Rainy Day Road Trip
by Melfina Lupin
Summary: Sequal to 'In the Rain' Chapter 9: After being on hold for 2 months - The Finale
1. The Problem with Communal Bathrooms

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Rainy day road trip by Melfina Lupin

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Author's Note: Look! I've changed my name! Anywho this is the Sequel to 'In the Rain'. In this fic Rogue, Remy, and other X-men all take a road trip to New Orleans to celebrate Mardi Gras. It's full of humor and lots of ROMY as well as drama and angst! Oh no! I bash Jean and Scott so beware if you like them. Possible John X Kitty? Maybe. NOTE: I know only a small piece of Remy's history. I know the Thieves Guild fight the Assassins and I do intend to involve a certain homicidal ex-fiancée with a few 'changes'. **cough** Bella Donna **cough** 

Since there is some German in that part and I don't know German, I used a translator on the web. So the translations could be a little off. Sorry in advance. ;_; me no speakie German.

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Disclaimer: I don't own the x-men. I just borrow the characters. ^__^

~*~*~*~

Chapter 1

The Problem with Communal Bathrooms 

On Sunday morning, a drowsy-eyed but nevertheless cute Kitty Pryde awoke to discover that she was alone in her gigantic bedroom as she peered through her long thick locks that had fallen over her eyes during the night. Yawning and rubbing the sleep from her blue eyes, the young girl saw that Rogue was so where to be found which was pretty odd since her roommate always slept in on the weekends. Even more confusing, Rogue's bed was made. Rogue never made her bed. It was like she didn't even sleep in her room last night.

"Well it's not like I want to, like, see her today," Kitty grumbled to herself as she scooted out of her big warm bed. "I'm still, like, mad at her for pushing my down that stupid ice slide yesterday." She winced as she tried to stretch in the chilly air. Not only was her bottom sore but so was the rest of her thanks to that mock battle in the front lawn of the institute via John's impulsive fervor. 

Hopefully a nice long shower would work all the painful kinks out of her body and wake her up. She sighed, the aspect of a shower lightening her mood, and she moved to her closet to get a towel, her caddy full of showering necessities, and some clothes. Still dressed in her pale pink pajamas, she walked out of her room, said articles in hand, and hurried to the closest bathroom. Since it was still early morning, hopefully no one was in there yet.

Unfortunately Amara was cooped up inside, holding the bathtub hostage, and Kitty moped as she glared at the inaccessible door. This is so, like, not fair, she thought to herself, a breath away from throwing a gigantic hissy fit. Why can't the princess use the bathroom by her room?

Glowering a little, Kitty decided to steal the bathroom further down at hall by Remy's room. He was probably still sleeping because of his early morning drills yesterday so she figured that he didn't need the bathroom then. With a fixed plan, Kitty felt a little better. She turned and hurried down the long hallway.

~*~*~*~

Rogue sighed softly in her sleep as she felt a bright shaft of light fall across her eyes, slowly waking her up from her peaceful slumber. Feeling pleasantly warm and safely tucked against another sleeping body, she opened her misty eyes and blinked to clear her vision. And what a vision it was! She was lying in Remy's bed, covered in his large bathrobe, sheltered in his arms with her head resting against his shoulder. Remy's gorgeous upper body was naked but the coverlet covered him from the waist down. Both her face and heart warmed when she remembered what happened the night before. 

Rogue looked into his face and found that Remy was still asleep. She smiled at the enchanting site. I could get use to waking up to this, she thought to herself as she leaned forward and placed a little kiss on his unshorn chin and then another one on his neck and collarbone. She felt him shift under her and watched as he slowly opened his demon eyes to look up at her.

"Good morning," she whispered shyly. 

Remy smiled and pulled her close, pressing a kiss on the corner of her mouth. "Mornin', chere," he murmured, his voice rough with sleep. "How ya feeling?"

Rogue blushed and tucked her head underneath his chin so he wouldn't see it. "Great," she told him. She felt him run a hand through her tousled hair and she snuggled close to him, loving the feel of his brawny chest as she wrapped her arms around him. "I don't want to get up. It's too nice being here with you."

"I know, petite," Remy replied, his hands sliding up and down her back lazily. "But it's Sunday."

Rogue smiled and sat up, the loose robe opening a bit to show some of her pale skin. Remy automatically reached for her but she slapped his hand away playfully and readjusted the garment to cover her, blushing wildly. "Meaning what, Remy?" she asked, teasing him.

He too sat up, a devilish gleam in his eyes, and kissed her mouth. "It's still early, chere. Still got time to fool around before the other wake up."

Rogue found herself grinning like an idiot. "Sounds good to me," she replied and wrapped her arms about him. Remy drew her into a tight embrace and leaned down to kiss her. Laughing, she made a face and pushed herself back.

"Before we do anything, I'm going to brush my teeth," she told him. "I hate morning breath."

~*~*~*~

Kitty sighed in contentment when she found that the other bathroom was pleasantly void of any form of life. She walked into the peaceful sanctuary of glossy tile and polished marble, closing the door behind her. Like all the other bathrooms in the mansion, this one was large and spacious with a marble sink, enormous mirror locked inside a golden frame and a bathtub that could comfortably sit a couple of cattle. There was also a thick curtain that hid the bathtub and offered much-needed privacy for the occupant.

Kitty sat her towel on the floor by the tub for an easy reach before stepping inside it and pulling the plastic drapery shut. She sat her toxic pink caddy on the tub floor and was about to slip out of her nightclothes when she heard the bathroom door open. She froze. Did she lock the bathroom door? Determined to give hell to whoever entered, Kitty phased her head through the curtain and scowled as meanly as she could.

"John! Don't you ever, like, knock?" she demanded.

The impracticable Aussie, stilled dressed in his rumpled nightclothes with his hair an inflamed upheaval of orange spikes, was about to brush his teeth when Kitty caught him off guard. He dropped his toothbrush at the sound of her voice with an unmanly yelp of surprise and spun around, brown eyes wide in shock. When he saw the furious head, glaring at him through the shower curtain, he paled dramatically, a little unnerved by seeing just Kitty's head.

"Shit, mate! You scared me half to death!" he wheezed. His hand clutched the front of his shirt as if he was trying to catch his pounding heart as he leaned against the sink for support. "Why the hell to you phase through thing?! It looks like your head's decapitated!"

"Well, it's, like, just easier to phase through the thing," Kitty insisted before she found herself off topic. "Just why are you in here, John? The door was closed!"

"The door wasn't locked," he told her, "so I didn't know you were in bloody here, Kitty." 

Her frown of exasperation deepened. "You still should have, like, knocked," she exhorted even though she realized that this whole encounter was mainly her fault. But she would never admit to that. 

"Sorry. Errm…you ain't naked are you?" John looked a little neurotic.

"No! I still have my clothes on and thank god for that! Could you please get out now? I, like, don't want an audience when I shower." She pointed angrily towards the door via phasing her arm through the plastic barrier. 

"But I just wanted to brush my teeth!"

"John!"

"Please-"

"Out!"

The older boy offered an adorable pout and turned to leave, muttering, "Sorry, Kitty." 

She sighed, her defenses weakening; his sulking face almost making her let him brush his darn teeth. He was just so cute. Er…wait. Did she just think John was cute? Well if you get passed the unrestricted swearing, the hyperactivity, and the unhealthy addiction to fire, Kitty reasoned that John was a really great guy. 

With her system going into shock over the revelation, Kitty watched him leave, not willing to go back to her shower until he was safely out of the bathroom. She gaped when she saw him turn and dive behind the curtain, joining her in the gigantic bathtub.

"John!" she screamed, too bewildered to be angry. "What are you, like, doing?!"

"Shhh!" He quickly snapped the curtain back into place. "Someone's coming!"

Kitty put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "And you just thought, like, to stay in here will someone does their business?! I don't think so! Get out there and, like, say I'm using the shower!" She tried to push John out of the tub when the bathroom door swung open. They both froze, horrified, and John put a hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. 

Oh god, she thought. This is so embarrassing. I hope they don't have to use the toilet.

Beyond the curtain, she heard the third person walk into the bathroom and turn on the faucet, sing very softly, oblivious to the two in the bathtub. Who was it, Kitty wondered for a moment. It sounded a lot the Rogue but that wasn't possible. Rogue never sang. At least not a happy song. Kitty looked towards John and saw him mouth the word 'Rouge?'. She shrugged, just as baffled as he was.

The signing stopped. "Damn it," the unknown person cursed softly and Kitty instantly knew that it was indeed her gothic roommate. She could pick that smoky southern drawl from a mile away. 

"This hickey's not going anywhere," Rogue murmured under her breath. "I'll have to wear a scarf for a week."

Kitty's eyes widened as she stared at the curtain in disbelief. _Hickey_?! Ew...gross!

Just to make things worse, the door opened again and another voice flowed passed the curtain. "What's wrong, petite?" Kitty and John stared at each other, eyes wide in horror. Rouge and Remy together in a room by themselves was not good.

"Look what you did to me, Remy!" Rogue said irritably. The Cajun laughed softly despite his girlfriend's foul mood and Kitty heard him walk deeper into the bathroom. She gulped when she heard the door close. 

_Oh God!_

"Just a love bite," Kitty heard him say.

"No, not that. _This_!"

_Oh, GOD_! Kitty suddenly wished that she were deaf. She really didn't want to know about Rogue and Remy's love life. It was just…ick. It was like thinking about your sister like that. Beside her, John was probably wishing the same thing since he was covering his ears and shaking his head, his face twisted into a grimace.

"Don't worry, chere," Remy said. "You gave me some too."

Now Kitty felt sick.

"Really? God, I hope they go away soon before someone sees. Hey, don't you start to give me another, Remy! I have enough as it is!"

"Sorry, chere." There was a rich amusement in his voice that could have seduced anyone. "You're just so gorgeous."

"I won't be gorgeous waking around with a pound of make-up on my neck," Rogue grumbled testily. 

There was a moment of silence. "Second thoughts about last night?"

Excuse me?! Kitty's mind screamed as she felt her mouth plunge to the ground. What about last night? Oh god, they didn't…did they? Feeling that this was more than a little violation of privacy, Kitty just wanted to die.

"Of course not, Remy," Rogue snapped out testily. She paused and when she spoke again her voice was sweetly shy. "Of course not. I wouldn't trade what happened between us last night for anything." 

"Me neither," he replied. 

Kitty could just image them embrace while she thought about banging her head repeatedly against the tiled wall. Then blessed silence came upon the bathroom and John leaned in to cautiously whisper, "Did you think they left?"

"I don't know. I don't care. Let's, like, just phase out of here before-"

Before Kitty could finish, the curtain was violently jerked back and a seriously pissed off Rogue scowled at the two of them from the other side of the tub, her green eyes ablaze in rage. Kitty and John both cried out in shock and fear and clung to each other, waiting for their inevitable death.

"G'day, Roguey," John whimpered, trying to flash a brave smile but failing miserably. "Er…lovely hickey you got there."

Rogue's anger falter as she blushed hotly and quickly covered the discolored spot on her neck with her hand while Kitty poked her elbow sharply into John's ribs. "You're not helping!" she hissed softly at her tub mate.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing in here?!" Rogue demanded, her hands placed threateningly on her hips, hickey forgotten in her stalwart animosity. Kitty whimpered and closed her eyes. They were _so_ dead. 

"It's, like, a long story!" Kitty told her, trembling like a leaf as she held onto John. 

"It was an accident!" John replied at the same time.

Remy stepped forward, looking just as angry as his girlfriend and just as skeptical. "Why don't you explain." It wasn't a question. More like an unappeasable order. Kitty was forced to open one eye and look directly at his handsome face. She shuddered. If looks could kill then she would have been a bloody stain on the floor.

"Um…well…." Kitty stuttered, suddenly intimated by the 6"2' Cajun with eyes that could burn through anything. It didn't help that his chest was bare and Kitty could see his chiseled physique. Talk about a great body! She could feel her face grow hot as her mouth became suddenly draw. She found that she couldn't look away. 

"Well…er…um…" she stammered unintelligently.

Rogue glared daggers at her. "Well what? Damn it, Kitty stop gawking at my boyfriend and talk some sense."

Kitty's blush deepened and she finally moved her eyes to her pink bunny slippers. "Err…" 

"What the hell you are two doing in the shower?" Rogue demanded.

"Cleaning," John blurted out before Kitty could say what actually happened.

Remy cocked an eyebrow. "Cleaning," he repeated slowly.

Kitty shot a look of confusion at John and he poked her in the ribs. "Yeah, that's right!" she exclaimed, forcing herself to sound truthful. "We were, like, totally cleaning the bathroom because…er…Xavier wanted to, like, punish us for what happened yesterday."

"What did you do wrong, Kitty?"

Kitty drew a big white blank in her mind. "Er…" What could a good girl like Kitty do that could possibly make the professor mad at her?

"She burnt Piotr's cookies," John replied without missing a beat.

Kitty glowered, knowing for a fact that John had done that himself. She could never do something so mean to the gentle Russian.

"Yay. You, like, know me. I'm, like, the worse cook in the world," Kitty added, adding a forced giggle.

Rogue looked doubtful. "That's it?"

"Yeah, mate! She could have inadvertently started the second cold war!" John told them. 

"So you two were just cleaning," Remy looked down and saw Kitty's caddy full of her showering things, "with Kitty's expensive shampoo and soaps?"

John and Kitty nodded firmly. 

"Nothing works better at dissolving grime like…er…Dove soap. Why are you still wearing your night civvies?"

"Cleaning can be a dirty job, mate," John replied.

Rogue sighed and began to rub her pounding temples with her fingers. "You are such bad lairs," she told them. "Tell us the truth already." 

Kitty sighed and gave in. "Truthfully, I was going to take a shower in here since Amara was, like, in the one down the hall," she began to tell her friend. "I forgot to lock the door so, like, John just barged in here without knocking. He was about to, like, leave when he heard you two coming so he jumped in here with me."

Remy's dark eyes snapped towards John. "Why did you do that?" he asked. "Why didn't you just stop us?"

"That's what I, like, asked him!" Kitty pointed out.

The sets of eyes turned at look at John but the Australian shrugged. "Why are you guys looking at me like that! I don't know! I freaked!"

"This was, like, a totally accident! I'm so sorry!"

"How much did you hear?"

"Enough to make me wanna hurl," John told Rogue, his face a nice shade of green. He covered his eyes with his hands and wailed, "Oh god, the images! Make them stop!"

"I'm totally creeped out," Kitty muttered, shaking her head. She climbed out of the bathtub, her limbs exceedingly shaky, and gathered her belongs. "I'm never ever like going come to this bathroom again!" 

"Amen to that, mate," John agreed, shuddering for the extra effect. 

Remy and Rogue watched them walk to the door of the bathroom and out into the hall. Shooting a glance towards her boyfriend, Rogue hurried out and caught up with her roommate in the empty hallway.

"Wait up, Kitty!"

Pale and anxious, the younger girl turned around and looked at Rogue, preparing herself for the worst. "Yeah?" she called out with due precautions. "Are you going to kill me now?"

Rogue sighed and moved closer to the younger girl. "You won't tell anyone about me and Remy will you?" she whispered.

Kitty was surprised to see that Rogue looked genuinely fearful. "Did you…" she began but stopped, not knowing how to phrase her question.

Rogue bit her lower lip and gave a slight nod.

"Oh my god!" Kitty gasped.

"Shut up!" She moved to place a hand on the younger girl's mouth. 

"You so, like, have to give some details!" Kitty said when she pulled Rogue's hand away.

"What? No way!" Rogue looked at her as if the younger girl had lost her mind.

"Come on!" Kitty urged. "Please?" She baited her big baby blue eyes hoping to destroy Rogue's iron will. 

Rogue blushed and shrugged. "If you promise me that you won't tell anyone, I'll talked to ya later, okay? If Logan or the professor find out about this, they will skin our hides! You know the rules."

Kitty nodded eagerly. "You're secret's, like, totally safe with me." 

"Thanks," Rogue whispered before backtracking to the bathroom, locking the door so no one could barge in.

~*~*~*~

John's left eye was twitching from stress as he retreated back to the quiet asylum of his room. Beside himself with an overload of information he didn't need or want, he just wanted to go back to sleep and forget about what happened in the bathroom. Thinking about Rogue and Remy like that was just…ick. They were like family to him and that, in turn, made him unintentionally feel like a brother and sister were like going at it. Ick indeed.

"Oh, why me?" he whimpered softly to himself. "This ain't fucking Utah." Still walking, he covered his eyes with his hands and shook his head. "God, the images! Poor Pyro didn't need this. Why Can't Rogue and Remy stay in his damn room instead of turning the entire place into their fucking love-nest? Oh God, I so did not mean for that to be a pun!" 

Wallowing in deep self-pity, John paced passed Amara's room. It was just his luck that he while he talking to himself, the young aristocrat was in her room with the door wide open. She had heard everything. Eyes wide and frozen in mid-hair brushing, Amara stared in disbelief at her door. 

What was this about Remy and Rogue together? Did they sleep together? Oh. My. God. Major gasp! Oh, I gotta tell the others!

Jumping off her bed, Amara raced out of her room like the devil was on her back. She was on her way to tell the latest gossip to Sam when she crashed right into Jamie after she rounded a corner at top speed. Both mutants were knocked backwards onto their bums with Jamie landing in a dozen multiples of himself.

"Ouch," the Jamies murmured in pain. "Amara can't you watch where you're going?"

"Sorry," Amara gushed out, too ecstatic to be the rude girl she sometimes was. "I was just on my way to tell Sam something."

"Tell him what?" Jamie asked, standing up with the help of one of his multiples.

"The latest gossip!" she squealed. "What else could be this important?"

Jamie looked unimpressed and stared at her with vacant blue eyes. "So?"

Amara was lost; the excitement in her face was quickly replaced with a look of emptiness. She didn't know why Jamie wasn't curious as to what it was. Was it possible for someone to be so nonchalant with the latest news? That simply wasn't right!

" 'So' what? Jamie, this is major gossip!" she exclaimed, almost dancing with her enthusiasm. "Don't you want to hear what it is?"

Even though Jamie wasn't a big fan of hearing gossip, most of it was just rumors anyway, he felt honored that Amara wanted to include him. Because of his age, most of the other mutants just ignored him. Jamie shrugged and replied, "Sure, Amara. What is it?"

Grinning from ear to ear much like the crazy Cheshire cat, Amara leaned forward and whispered into the main Jamie's ear. When the insidious news was passed on, Jamie's innocent eyes were as big as saucers as he gaped at her in utter shock.

"But…" he stuttered, "that's against the rules!" 

"So?" Amara asked snootily and gave a dreamy sigh, clasping her hands together under her chin. Jamie was positive that he could see big red hearts dancing in the depths of her dark eyes. "I think it's romantic!"

"I think it's gross," Jamie returned with a scowl of disgust. He, of course, was still at the young innocent age where girls were people from a different planet.

Amara rolled her eyes, her fanciful expression turning cold. "Whatever," she dismissed. "You're probably to young to understand anyway."

"Hey!" came the insulted reply from all the Jamies.

Amara shrugged and continued down the hall towards Sam's room. "See ya later, Jamie!"

Frowning, Jamie glared at his conceited teammate before hurrying off to Ray's room to tell him the news. He'd show her that he was old enough to understand.

~*~*~*~

"Yeah, Remy and Rogue totally did it!"

"You're kidding, right? My sister?!"

Kitty paused as she walked passed Kurt's room, her heart almost stopping from shock. Did she just hear right? How in the world did Bobby know and why was he telling Kurt? Who told Bobby?

Still a little confused, Kitty slowly backtracked and stood in the doorway of Kurt's room. Lo and behold a very distraught blue elf was clutching his head and wailing in pain while Bobby stood there, grinning.

"Not my poor sister!"

"Um…guys, like, what's up?" Kitty asked.

Bobby turned and looked at her. "You mean you don't know?"

Kitty hated to ask. Maybe they were talking about another Rouge and Remy she didn't know. It could happen.

"Know what?"

"Rogue and Remy slept together last night!" Bobby exclaimed. "Amara said they were so loud she heard them in her room!"

Kurt shuddered and moaned, "Ich will nicht das hören! Ich sollte nicht das hören!" (I don't want to hear this! I shouldn't hear this!)

Kitty rolled her eyes, ignoring Kurt's German rambles for the most part. "Whatever, Bobby! I would have, like, heard them before she did. My room is closer to, like, Remy's than hers is."

"Did you?"

"No! Not a peep. How could you, like, ask that, Bobby? You are, like, so perverted!"

He shrugged, a goofy grin plastered to his face. "Just curious." 

"Do you know for sure that they slept together?" Kitty asked. "Did you, like, walk in on them or something?"

"Oh come on! Where talking about Rogue and Remy here! They can hardly keep their hands off each other as is! Why shouldn't they fuck each other's brains out since Rogue has control of her power? She's sex on legs, man!"

At that, Kurt screamed something out in German and tried to scratch out his ears. The other two mutants ignored him.

"Who told you that they slept together anyway?" she asked, knowing for well that she didn't spill anything. 

"Heard it from Ray."

"Ray?" Oh there was a reliable source. Maybe Ray had been just bored and started to spread some rumors just to piss everyone off?

"Yup. He said he heard it from Jamie who heard it from Amara who heard if from John," Bobby told her. "Talk about your grape vine!" 

Kitty frowned, wanting nothing more than to super glue the pyromaniac's mouth shout forever. Darn it, John!

"Amara even heard from John that they are going to elope in Utah," Bobby added.

"Utah?" Kitty asked, a look of skepticism passing her face. "That's, like, the dumbest thing I've ever heard next to Rogue and Remy sleeping together. That totally dumber. They were probably just studying last night. He had a lot of work from, like, school to do you know."

Even though she knew the rumor was true, she thought it would be best if she passed the whole thing off as deceptive lie formulated by a bored student to raise hell on a boring Sunday. She valued her life, thank you very much.

"You think they just studied?" Bobby laughed. "You're **so** naïve, Kitty! If I had a hot chick like Rogue in my room, studying would be the last thing on my mind!"

"Please! Do not talk about my sister like that in front of me! I can't take it!"

"Sorry, dude," Bobby quickly replied, not looking contrite at all. 

"So you think they really did it?" Kitty asked in a small, defeated voice.

"Oh yeah! Why wouldn't they?"

Kitty sighed. Rogue was going to kill her. 

"Ich bin dabei, ihn zu töten! I'm going to kill Gambit!" Kurt suddenly screamed, now looking extremely pissed and no longer sick to his stomach. He cracked the knuckles in his six fingers menacingly and Kitty could just see the fur in his back stand up on edge much like an angry cat. "How dare he lay one finger on my sister! Remy Lebeau is going to die!"

"Kurt, like, calm down!" Before she could calm him, the blue guy was gone in a **_bampf_** of sulfuric smoke. She stamped her foot down peevishly. "Darn it! Why in the world did you, like, tell Kurt?" she nearly shouted at Bobby.

"I dunno! I thought that he would get a kick out of it! Shit! You think he'll really do it?" Bobby asked but Kitty was already in mid-phase, halfway through the floor of Kurt's room. "Hey, wait for me!" He grabbed a hold on her hand before she could disappear all together.

"Kurt? Don't! Just, like, stop!" she screamed even though she knew he couldn't hear her.

"Where do you think he went?" Bobby shouted as he watched them more through the floor.

"To the kitchen!"

"Why the kitchen? Why not Remy's room?"

"There are, like, knives in the kitchen," Kitty replied. "Big, sharp knives."

"Knives? Shit!"

Kitty finished phases and they were suddenly falling into the dining hall. They landed with a loud thud on the large table, Bobby groaning when Kitty collided into him.

"Sorry," the she replied hurriedly before hopping of the table and running full speed into the kitchen. A winded Bobby was right on her heels. "Kurt," she called out. "Stop! Don't do it!"

She flung open the kitchen door and saw Kurt urgently searching the cabinet drawers, his yellow eyes bright with anger.

"Don't try to stop me, Kitty!" he yelled, absentmindedly pointing a rather large butcher knife in her direction. "I have to protect my sister's honor!"

Kitty frowned and put her hand on his hips. "Come on, Kurt! Do you honestly want to, like, hurt Remy?"

"Yes! I never liked Gambit! He's not good enough for her!"

"Kurt, like, stop and listen to yourself or a sec!" Kitty pleaded. "They love each other. Remy wouldn't hurt her!"

Kurt glared at her. "But she's my sister!" he whined.

"I know that, Kurt. But if you leave this kitchen, I'm going to, like, tell Logan!"

He seethed with anger. "No you wouldn't," he dared.

Kitty put her hands on her hips. "Yes, I will! Besides you think you can, like, take Remy with a knife? He would do see you from a mile away! He's a thief and use to defending himself!"

"Not if I teleport!"

"Kurt!" Kitty urged, an inch from losing control and phasing Kurt halfway through the kitchen floor.

"What?!" Kurt glared at her again.

"I wouldn't let you go!"

"Me neither," Bobby added, shooting a blue wave of ice across the room. His power hit Kurt in the chest and the blue elf froze completely, standing in the middle of the kitchen like an ice statue, a look of anger and horror on his face. The knife fell from Kurt's hand and clattered and skidded across the tiles, disappearing into the dusty, dark realm underneath the stove.

Kitty sighed, the tension in her shoulders quickly fading. "I hope he's not hurt."

"Nah," Bobby replied. "I went easy on him."

"Good. Come on. Let's, like, get Kurt back in his room before he thaws."

~*~*~*~

Around 10 in the morning, Rogue and Remy walked into the dinning hall for breakfast. When they stepped inside the room, it became unnaturally silent. Rogue was a little confused as she looked at the long table. Most of the students were sitting down, avoiding eye contact with her and acting very unusual. Amara was giggling, John and Kitty looked unwell, Kurt looked frostbitten and downright murderous, Piotr looked nonchalant, Sam and Jamie were uninterested, Ray, Evan, Roberto, and Bobby were sniggering into their hands, and the responsible adults, Ororo and Xavier, looked utterly puzzled. There was no sign Jean, Scott, or Logan. What was going on? Everyone was acting more crazy than usual.

They found two empty seats, sitting down slowly as if waiting for a bomb to go off, and looked around the table like the kids had lost their minds. Rogue had dressed carefully and had wrapped a scarf around her neck to hide the telltale blemishes and Remy had the collar of his trench coat up. 

No one talked for a loooooong while.

"Where's Logan?" Rogue asked the professor, finally breaking the tense stillness in the air.

"Missing," Xavier replied, sending a sharp look in the former Acolyte's general direction. All three turned and ignored his stare, forging utter innocence.

"And Jean and Scott?"

"They, too, have been missing for some time, Rogue." 

John's sickness eased up enough for him to snicker into his cup of black coffee.

Rogue nodded, not too concerned with the whereabouts of her teammates, and grabbed a bagel from the platter before her. She ate in silence until she felt many pairs of eyes staring at her. Looking up through her dark lashes, she saw that most of the younger students were watching her and Remy. She glared at them.

"Y'all what somethin'?"

The immediately shook their heads and looked down at their plates. 

"I'll take the butter, Rogue," Sam piped up shyly.

(a/n: Yay for Sam!)

Rogue frowned and shoved the container into his hands, which he took gratefully before returning to his toast. Sighing, she settled back into her seat and slid her hand into Remy's under the table. He looked over at her and she leaned into him to whisper, "You think they all know?"

He flashed an irresistible smirk. "Probably, chere."

Rogue blushed and glared angrily at the mutants. "Damn it. How the hell do they know?"

"You think Kitty talked?"

Rogue frowned. "No."

"Must have been John then," he returned sagely.

Rogue turned and glared at the fiery mutant who was all but oblivious to her stare. "I'll kill him." Her hand tightened around her half-eaten bagel as if she was preparing to launch to across the table.

"Just hold on, chere," Remy replied. "It's just a rumor to them anyway. They probably only half-believe it. Let's just keep 'em guessin', all right? It'll be fun."

"It won't be fun when you wake up 2 miles outside of town, Remy," she told him. "Kurt looks ready to kill you."

Remy turned to look at the furious elf and shuddered. 

Rogue put her hand to her forehead and muttered, "I hate this place. Nothing can't happen here without anyone knowing!""

"Ooh la la, what are the two lovebirds whispering about over there?" Bobby's voice rang out over the table and Rogue looked up to glare daggers at him.

"Shut up, Bobby," she told him.

He rolled his eyes and blew a kiss in her direction. Roberto, who was sitting next to him, made loud kissy noises that made most of the young students snigger quietly. Rogue growled low in her throat and considered throwing her bagel at them too. Damn little brats, she cursed angrily. 

Just then a furious bellow came from behind the dinning room doors, quieting down the noise instantly, and everyone jumped. Piotr, John, and Remy instantly looked up, heads turned towards the entrance with eyes wide.

"Uh-oh," Remy sighed, jumping to his feet.

"About fucking time," John muttered, also standing up.

"We should run," Piotr wisely advised.

Before Xavier could do anything, a pair of lethal metal claws mutilated the wooden doors, bringing them down as if they were mere toothpicks, in an instant and Logan pounced in, seething with anger and coated with a nice layer of dirt and leaves. Jean and Scott where right behind him, looking just as filthy and pissed. Seeing Jean with twigs in her perfect red hair and Scott with his disheveled, grubby clothes made Rogue smile inside out of spite.

Eyes flaming with anger, Logan looked for the former Acolytes. When he saw them, he snarled. "YOU!!!"

"G'day, mate," John replied brightly. "Have a nice night?"

Logan growled ominously and vaulted towards the table, ready to rip them into tiny bloody pieces despite Xavier sitting just a couple of chairs away. The raging, homicidal mutant didn't get far when a charged apple flew through the air to explode in his face, stopping him in his tracks. John cackled and jumped away from the table. Remy and John followed him.

"Just what I need! A game of cat and mouse!" John laughed as the boys ran out of the dinning hall. Logan snarled and ran after them. So did Jean and Scott. The rest of the mutants were left to stare and contemplate.

"Does anyone else think we're living in some sort of action movie?" Sam quietly asked after a moment.

The other mutants shook their heads in unison.

"Nah. It's more like a steamy soap opera than anything else," Bobby quipped, making a point to stare directly at Rogue.

She frowned at him and let her bagel fly. Damn the consequences. The delicious morning treat hit him right in his face, knocking him backward onto the ground, chair and all. The other students turned to laugh at their fallen comrade. Feeling a little better, Rogue stood and left the room before the adults could gather their wits.

~*~*~*~

Later in the day, Rogue wondered aimlessly to one of the many recreational rooms to find something to watch on the television. She was bored to tears since Remy was still missing, gone just like John, Piotr and Logan. The four of them were no doubt fighting somewhere. Jean and Scott had given up on the idea of revenge and opt to take a very long nap elsewhere in the mansion. She was walking passed Amara's room when a hand reached out from the doorway and dragged the struggling Rogue inside.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" Rogue snapped out once she was pulled within the room. She glared at the younger girl when the door was shut and locked behind her. She turned and found Ray next to the entrance.

Instead of answering, Amara stared at Rogue before nodding at Ray. He turned off the lights and the room was automatically plunged into an unbreakable darkness. "What the hell? Ouch!" Rogue winced when a flashlight was shined right in her face.

"Hey, watch it, Magma!" Rogue growled, rubbing her blind eyes. "What are you doing?"

"We just want some answers," the girl told her as if this was the most normal thing to do in the world. "So spill."

Rogue frowned, the bright light mixed with her confusion shutting down her brain. "Spill what?" she asked.

"Are the rumors true?" 

Rogue was flabbergasted. "Bobby, is that you?!"

"Did you guys actually do it?"

"Jamie?! What the hell is this?!"

"Just tell us!"

"Sam?! Are you guys gangin' up on me or something?" Rogue asked, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at all the bored little children, or at least she tried to glare in their general direction for it was too dark to see them. "Are you tryin' to interrogate me?"

Amara put the flashlight in Rogue's eyes again. "Where the ones who ask the questions around here. Understand?"

"You are all out of your sad, little minds!"

"Rogue where were you after midnight last night until 8 in the morning?"

"That's none of your business, Roberto!" Rogue snapped defensively. "God, who's all in here anyway?" She tried to see for herself but she was blinded yet again by Amara. "Will you stop that?!"

"Answer the question, Rogue," the girl ordered, her voice deep and solemn left little room for argument.

"What? No! This is none of this is your business. Just what do you think your playing at, y'all?" Before the girl could stop her, Rogue reached out and grabbed the flashlight, twisted off the lid, and dumped the batteries on the floor. "I'm bigger and a whole lot stronger than all of you so I won't fall for your stupid games. Ray, hit the lights or I'll kick you in the nuts."

Ray gave a rather undignified squeak despite his cool exterior and immediately turned on the lights. When she was able to see again, Rogue glowered at the younger mutants, most of who were sitting on Amara's bed with a large tub of buttery popcorn. She turned to a guilt-ridden Amara.

"You really ought to stay out of people's lives," she told her, hurling the empty flashlight to the floor. She looked at the other mutants and scoffed. "You guys are so sad!"

"No, we're bored!" Bobby spoke up from the bed while many of the other students were motioning for him to shut up. "Gossip is our only means of shaking things up around here on the weekends!"

"You want some gossip?" Rogue questions, red-hot sparks of malice glowing in her eyes. "Fine! Have it your way! Gossip, shaken and stirred!" Gathering, Avalanche's power to shake the earth (as well as the ability to make hideous puns), she sent a mighty earthquake through the room, knocking the mutants on the bed into each other. Amara and Ray lost their balance on the unstable ground and fell to the floor, landing smartly on their backsides. Rogue grinned smugly at the comical site and, satisfied with her devious onslaught, she turned and withdrew from the room. 

Damn, she thought as she walked down the hallway. Xavier's got to give those kids something to do besides watching NYPD Blue. 

Thinking of the professor, she decided to head to his office and have a nice chatter with him about her spring break. Hopefully she could butter him up enough to the point where he would let her and Remy go to New Orleans for their vacation. Arriving at the professor's suite, she rapped politely on the door.

"Come in, Rogue," the muffled voice of the professor echoed form inside the room.

Taking a deep breath, Rogue opened the door and stepped inside. At the other side of the room, Xavier was sitting at his desk like usual with Ororo and Hank occupying the chairs that flanked the front of the desk. It looked like they were having some sort of meeting and she automatically felt contrite for barging in.

"Sorry if I'm interrupting something," she quickly replied, taking a step back. "I'll just come back later when you're not busy, professor."

"Stay, Rogue," Xavier called out before she could escape. "You are interrupting nothing. What would you like to speak with me about?"

Rogue walked further into the room and took the seat next to Ororo by the desk. "Um…I just wanted to talk to you about spring break," she started. "It's coming up pretty soon and I was wondering if you could let Remy and me could go down to New Orleans for Mardi Gras."

Xavier nodded, frowning slightly from contemplation, when Rogue was finished with her request. "Mardi Gras can be a very dangerous place for unsupervised teenagers," he began. 

She sighed, knowing where this was heading and prepared to be denied.

"But Remy's been working his tail off. Can't you give him leave for a week?" she asked. "It would mean a lot to him if he could go home." And it would be a lot for me too, she secretly added. 

"I would imagine so. And as it turns out I was thinking about the very same thing."

Rogue blinked. "You were?"

"Yes, Rogue," the professor replied. "Ororo, Hank, and I have been discussing the latest antics of our students. It seems like most are…how should I put this…?"

"Driving you mad?" Rogue offered.

Xavier smiled gently and nodded. "Yes. Unfortunately we don't have the means to keep up with all our maturing students. Most have become antsy and high strung and Logan, unfortunately, isn't helping the problem. The students are no doubt more than ready for spring break to start. So I have decided that we all should take a vacation together."

"A vacation?" Rogue frowned. "Together?" Young mutants vacationing together often meant costly repair bills and a shitload of Tylenol to deal with the inevitable headaches.

"We're hoping that if we get the students out of the institute for the break, they might calm down," Ororo continued.

"We thought about skiing in the Alps," Hank added, "or maybe a nice relaxing spa in France, but nothing seemed to fit."

"But a vacation in New Orleans sounds excellent," Xavier put in. "Both you and Remy will need some sort of supervision anyway and the students will enjoy the parade as well as the ample festivities."

"That sounds…great," Rogue replied, forcing herself to smile nicely at the adults. But on the inside she was raving mad. This was meant just to be for her and Remy. "You really serious about this?"

"Of course," Xavier told her. "Everyone loves Mardi Gras."

"Can't see why not," Rogue muttered, standing up. "When will you tell them?"

"Tonight at dinner."

"Better pack the food with sedatives," she advised with a faint laugh. "Thanks, professor."

He benevolently smiled at her before she turned and walked out of the room. Pondering if she should tell Remy about the trip when she saw him or wait until dinner, she wondered down the hallway, circling back to her room. For the second time that day, a hand reached out and pulled Rogue the lemon-scented linen closet. 

"The hell?! Amara, I'm so gonna kick your ass this time! This ain't funny anymore!" Rogue snapped, her eyes blinding searching for the other girl in the obscurity of the small space. It was so dark she didn't know where the door was or else she would have left.

"Not, Amara, chere."

Rogue anger immediately evaporated. "Remy?" she called out tentatively. "What the hell are you doing in the linen closet?"

"Hiding," he answered in the darkness. "Next time remind Remy that he should never piss off a guy with metal bones and a healing factor." She heard him shudder in the darkness. "He just won't give up!"

"Aw, poor baby," Rogue cooed, feeling nothing but the utmost sympathy for her boyfriend. "Where are you? Can I turn on the light?"

"Go ahead."

Rogue struggled to find the string that was attached to the light switch in the darkness. When she did, she pulled it and the closet was filled with a honey-soft glow. She laughed softly when she saw Remy. He was sitting on the floor, wrapped in a bed sheet. He looked like a little kid with only his face sticking out.

"What's with the sheet, ghost boy?" she asked.

"Masking my scent so the homicidal badger won't find me," he replied. "Now, Logan will think I'm a really big lemon and leave me alone."

She smiled and sat down next to him. "Want some company?"

He nodded. "It's not easy to keep up a conversation with blankets."

"Should I be worried that you know that, Remy?"

He shrugged. "You should be more worried about Wolverine dicing your boyfriend into tiny pieces," he replied. "But if you're going to stay, you need to wrap yourself up in a sheet too."

Rogue rolled her eyes and pulled a large blue sheet from the closest shelf, wrapping it around her as if it were a toga. Just to be stupid, she grabbed another one and shrouded her had like she was wearing a very large turban. 

"I always liked playing pretend," she told him when she saw his amused smile. "How do I look?" She stuck a pose.

"That is the best sheet toga Remy has seen in a while, chere," Remy chuckled. 

Smiling, Rouge sat down next to her boyfriend again and Remy wrapped an arm around her, keeping her close to his side. She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Where is John and Piotr?" she asked. "Are they hiding too?"

Remy nodded. "Last time I checked with John he was hiding in one of the dryers in the laundry room and Piotr ran inside the X-jet. I hope Wolverine hasn't found them yet."

"You'd heard the screams if he did," she joked but that only made Remy pale. She smiled and leaned in to kiss his cheek. "Don't worry. He probably won't find any of you and give up trying to kill you."

"Really?" There was hope glowing in his dark eyes that melted her heart. "You think so?" 

"No."

"Gee, thanks," Remy sulked, pulling the sheet over his face and shifting so he could rest his head in her lap. "Hold me?"

Rogue chuckled and rubbed his back in a soothing fashion. "There, there, babe. I'll take care of the big bad Wolvie if he comes a-callin'."

"Thank you, chere," Remy murmured, snuggling against her like a big cat.

She smiled and leaned back against the shelves. "Never really noticed how nice these closest are," she mused softly after a quiet while. 

She felt Remy idly trace circles with his fingertips on her thigh. "Did you know that there is a ventilation system that connects all the closest together and that the closest on the third floor has a secret passage leading to the outside?" 

"Why am I not surprised that you know that, Remy?" Rogue laughed. "How did you find that out?"

"A thief's work is never done, petite. Xavier's got more secret passageways and such than Willie Wonka has chocolate. Remy's dedicated his life to uncovering every secret nook and cranny here." 

"Well, it's good that you have a goal in life, Remy," she replied.

"Remy can be very ambitious," the thief added. "And right now Remy's very ambitious on tickling his girlfriend."

Before she could stop his, his nimble finger made their way to her waist and began to tickle her without mercy. She screamed in shock and tried to wriggle away from his touch but he held her down. She squirmed until she was lying on the ground and he rolled on top of her, pinning her to the floor.

"Remy!" she laughed breathlessly. "Stop it! This isn't fair! You're bigger than me!"

He ignored her and continued his relentless torture. 

Finally, Rogue had had enough and decided to put an end to it once and for all. "Remy, how can you rough house with me? I'm still tender ya know!"

Instantly Remy was halfway across the closet. "Sorry, chere. Wasn't thinking."

Rogue sat up and grinned at him. "Just kidding!" Before he could stop her, she threw herself into his lap and pinched the tip of his sensitive ear. He yelped in surprise and started at her, looking incredulous. "You play dirty, chere," he said. 

She shrugged the best she could. "That's the best way to play. And if you keep tickling me, I'll do it again!"

A look of terror passed his face and he smartly resigned. "Okay. You win."

Rogue shook her head and wrapped her arms around her boyfriend, pulling him closer to her. "I love you so much, Remy," she murmured, grinning.

His hand caressed the side of her face. "I love you too, chere," he returned and kissed her softly. 

She smiled up at him, running her hands through his hair. The dark auburn locks fell over his dark eyes, and with his smirking mouth, it made him look all the more irresistible. She sighed and kissed him but this time it lasted a lot longer and was a lot more satisfying. 

When they both pulled back for much needed air, Rogue was blushing and hid her face in the crook on his shoulder. Remy smiled and held her in his lap. For a long while they just sat quietly, holding on another, in the closet, not really caring for the outside world. 

"You sure you're okay?" Remy suddenly asked, his voice as soft as a whisper.

Rogue shrugged, blushing. "Just a little sore," she admitted. "It's ain't that bad."

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" she asked. "I'm not gonna die or anything."

"Remy knows…but still," he trailed off and shrugged. 

She sighed and snuggled deeper into his embrace. "You're so silly," she murmured softly, pressing a soft kiss into the side of his neck. 

"You know what would help you?" Remy asked.

"What?"

His grin was lecherous. "A massage."

She laughed quietly, her cheeks reddening as she hid her face against his neck. "Pervert," she murmured but kissed his ear as he smirked down at her. "But ya know, that might help, Remy."

"We should try that soon then, right, chere?"

"Eh, you just want another reason to get your hands on me, Gumbo."

"But, chere, I don't need a reason to do that."

Rogue smiled at his and rested her head against his shoulder. Remy ran his hands up and down her back, the warmth luring her off to sleep. She did after all had a late night. But with the, Rogue's tired mind began to wonder to the previous night and her exhaustion soon wore off. 

Of course she had been a virgin but she didn't know about Remy. He couldn't have been on with the way his kissed and touched her. That made her worry a bit. Had he taken girls to bed? How many? Were they safe and used protection? Did he love any of them? Those pounding unanswered questions turned her stomach into a thousand knots.

"Remy?" she spoke up after a moment. "Can I ask you something?"

"What it is, chere?"

She didn't dare look at him but nervously toyed with her toga. She would have died from embarrassment. "Um…can I ask you something personal?"

Rogue missed it when he looked down at her. His fingers where under her chin in an instant and they lifted her face up so he could see her. She bit her lower lip and refused to meet his stare, looking at his chin instead. 

"It's not like the rogue to be so shy," Remy murmured softly, his eyes caressing her face as he watched her. "What do you want to ask me?"

Rogue sighed. It was now or never.

"You know I love you, right? And that I couldn't care less about your past," she began slowly, not knowing how to find the right words.

"Right," he drawled out casually.

"It's just that…I want to know if…if you've slept with any other girls besides me," she murmured, her eyes shooting away to his face to concentrate on the wall behind them. "I don't care if you have. It's just that I want to know."

"If you don't care, why are you asking?"

She frowned. "Okay. Fine. I do care. I'm damn possessive and hate sharing, Remy. You're my boyfriend damn it. So have you?"

She heard him sigh. "Yeah, chere, I have."

"Were there many."

He shook his head. 

"Did you love them?"

When he didn't answer, she turned and looked at him. His face was unreadable. 

"Remy?"

He shook his head again. "No, I didn't. It was mutual lust both ways."

Rogue wanted to sigh with relief as she felt her stomach disentangle. That certainly felt good to hear.

"You've been the only girl I loved, Rogue," he told her, pressing a tender kiss to her forehead. She smiled up at him, her bright blush somewhat lessening.

"Thanks for being honest," she told him.

He grinned at her. "What made you think I wasn't a virgin, chere?"

She tried to stifle her laugh. "You a virgin?" she asked, incredulous. "Come on, Remy. Only a guy with some experience could know…er…what drives a girl up the wall."

"I could have been a well-read virgin," he offered, teasing.

"Well-read my ass," she laughed. "I don't think so. Man, I'm getting hot just thinking about it," she started to fan her warm face.

"Maybe you ought to take off your toga?" 

She glared at him.

"I didn't mean it that way. Honest, chere," Remy told her but his ill-concealed smirk told her otherwise.

"Sure," she murmured but slipped off the toga anyway. She tossed it to the floor and wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning in to kiss him. His hands rested on his hips. 

"Remy?"

"What, chere?" he purred, pressing his lips against her throat.

She sighed and closed her eyes for a brief moment. "Um…last night…" she stammered. "Was I any good?"

Remy smiled gently and looked at her. "Don't talk like that. You were perfect, Rogue," he told her. "But if you want any pointers it's just your luck that you have a very willing instructor."

She grinned and slowly began to tug off his sheet. He watched her, wanting to see where she was taking this as his heart began to race. Without saying a word, she leaned forward and pressed a hot kiss against the bare skin on his neck. Remy closed his eyes as he felt her lips and tongue assault his sensitive flesh. He moved his hands to unfasten her headdress, throwing the blanket into a shapeless pile on the floor. His breath caught in his throat when he saw her slowly unbutton his shirt and run her warm fingertips over his chest.

Her smile was absolutely wanton. "It's just your luck that you have a very willing trainee," she told him, her southern drawl turning into a purr. If he had been a virgin, that might of made him blush. Instead he grinned, cupped her face in his hands, and kissed her hungrily, the first shivers of arousal rushing throughout his body.

"How do you feel like having some practice right now, chere?"

Rogue smiled, her bright eyes gazed over with passion and her lips swollen from he kiss. "Told you I was willing," she replied, pulling him in for another consuming kiss.

(a/n: that was so cheesy! Did I actually write that?! I'm horrified!)

~*~*~*~

Most of the oddity present at breakfast passed when dinner rolled around. Along with the other mutants, Piotr and John were accounted for, alive and in one piece, as well as Logan, Jean, and Scott. At the front of the table were Ororo, Hank, and Xavier. Remy and Rogue walked in and sat down and everyone began to eat. Or at least try to eat the food that was not scorched beyond recognition.

"What's up with the food?" Evan asked, picking at the burn blob that was on his dinner plate. "I didn't know you could burn spaghetti noodles."

"A slight glitch in the kitchen," Hank told them. "There was a knife under the stove which caused it to malfunction."

Bobby and Kitty coughed into their hands while the other students grumbled at started to nibble cautiously on what was edible.

"Can I have your attention, students?" Xavier called out in the middle of dinner. Instantly the chatting stopped and a dozen eyes turned to regard the professor.

"As you all know you will have a spring break from school next week," he continued. Many of the students smiled and nodded. "With your recent antics, we feel that it would be appropriate if we had a vacation."

"Really?" Evan asked. "Awesome!"

"Where are we, like, going?"

"Germany?"

"Australia?"

"Kentucky?"

"What's cool about Kentucky?"

"Um…"

While the students talked with one another, Remy turned to Rogue, a pout on his face. It looked like he had swallowed something very unpleasant, like a bucket of nails. "Let me guess, chere," he murmured. "New Orleans?"

"Afraid so, Remy," she sighed and patted hand. "There, there. It won't be so bad."

"Stop lying."

"Okay. New Orleans is going to hell in a hand basket filled with hyperactive mutants."

"Lord, help us all."

"Children," Ororo calmly spoke up from the front of the table. "We are all heading to New Orleans for Mardi Gras."

"Really? Awesome!"

"Totally!"

"Woohoo!"

Roaring cheers filled the dining hall and Remy winced, putting his head on the table.

"Of course, there will be adult supervision so **all** the adults will come as well."

"Excuse me?" Logan asked, looking insulted. "I don't do parties and what about the drills for the break?"

Ororo shrugged. "Forget the drills. You're coming, Logan," she told him in a whisper through clinched teeth. "I believe we will need all the help we can get."

He frowned and turned so he could see all the students. "If I see any beads around your necks, girls," he growled, "there will be hell to pay." He popped the claws out of one hand and scowled at them.

Jean, Kitty, Amara, and Rogue nodded firmly. 

"Pity," Remy murmured under his breath. "You won't be able so show your lovely tits to the world." He groped her with his agile hands before she could stop him. Luckily no one had been paying any attention. Still she blushed and kicked Remy's leg underneath the table as hard as she could. 

"Bastard," she hissed, crossing her arms over her harassed chest. Remy snickered and returned to his sulk.

"When do we leave, professor?" Kurt asked.

"This coming Friday," Xavier replied. "After you are dismissed from school."

"Sweet! Less than a week until we go!" Ray exclaimed.

"Oh my God!" Kitty shirked, looking panic-stricken and pale.

"Look at her butt," Bobby added.

"It's so big!" Roberto finished with a snicker.

"What are your guys, like, talking about? How can I have a big butt when I only weigh about 100 pounds?" Kitty asked, confused. 

"Ask Jean," Bobby told her.

"Hey!" The fiery redhead glared at them while the other students howled with laughter at the insult.

"Scott likes big butt and he cannot lie," Bobby sang out causing their fearless leader to blush and hid his face in his hands.

"Um…like I was saying. Oh my god we only have a week?" Kitty asked, bringing everyone pack to the topic. "I so have to pack!"

"Me too!" Amara added, jumping to her feet.

"Remy, like, what's the weather like down there?"

"Wamutumid…"Remy replied, his voice muffled since his head was still down.

Kitty looked confused. "Huh?"

"He says it will be nice and warm," Rogue translated.

"Tasureen."

"And to take sunscreen."

"Okay." With a bright smile, Kitty and Amara ran out of the dining hall.

"I'm out," Logan growled, standing to his feet.

"What about dinner?" Ororo asked.

"Don't think I can stomach the rest." Frowning surly, Logan marched out of the dining hall looking as bad tempered as a wet cat.

"Man, I'm so excited I can hardly sit still!" Sam exclaimed, suddenly turning into cannonball mode and flying throughout the dinning room, bouncing off the walls literally. Jean was forced to grab him with her telekinesis before he did any major damage to the mansion. He was smiling sheepishly when she returned him to his seat.

"Sorry," he murmured, blushing.

"God, I don't think New Orleans is ready for the x-kids," Remy said, raising his head to look at Rogue. 

"Don't worry," she told him, finding it hard to stay mad at her trouble boyfriend. "New Orleans has seen worse things than us."

"I wouldn't bet on that, chere."

To be continued ^_^

****

Author's Note: so how was it? Lord, I have so many ideas for this story! I hope you liked the sequel so far! Reviews are much appreciated. I'm trying to be funny but if it's nothing working, could you please tell me? I'm not use to writing humor. ;_; How was the scene in the closest? Good? Stupid? Chessy? The kissy section was totally not planed but I needed it for something later on in the story. ^_^


	2. The Problem with Leaving

****

Rainy day road trip by Melfina Lupin

Author's note: Story rated hard pg-15 for sexual content and language. Thankies for all the lovely reviews (I mean it! You're guys reviews made me so happy!). I was very worried that no one would like it. Gothic Cajun isn't the only one who thinks my fic has gone of the deep end. ^^;

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-men. They are property of Marvel and the brainchildren on Stan Lee.

~*~*~*~

Chapter 2

The Problem with Leaving

It was an absolutely glorious day when the final bell rang, calling for an end of that grueling school day on Friday. Spirits were carefree and sky-high as cheers and wild laughter filled the swarming halls of the high school while the eager students raced to freedom (some more so than others). The stress of the last week before break suddenly seemed worth it as they breathed in the fresh air and tasted salvation at last.

"New Orleans here we come!" Kitty sang out her blue eyes bright with anticipation as she haphazardly tossed her schoolbooks inside her locker. "How lucky am I, like, that no homework was assigned over break? It totally rocks!" 

"Man, I'm so excited we're leaving today!" Kurt told her, grinning wildly, as he waited for his friend to finish up. He laughed when he saw sparks of electricity and shots of ice further down the hallway. "And so is Ray and Bobby," he added with a wide grin.

Because of the crowd in the hallways, the younger mutants let their powers run a little unchecked. Kitty giggled and tugged her lifeless backpack onto her shoulder. "I hope Jean and Scott don't find out," she said. "Ya know how, like, touchy they can be about us using our power."

Kurt nodded deeply. He knew only too well. "I know."

"Well, come on, Kurt," Kitty said, grabbing his attention once more. "I don't wanna stand around all day. We, like, ought to get home as quickly as possible. I still have some packing to, like, do."

"What?" he gasped, staring at her as if she had grown two heads. "You've been packing all week! Aren't you done?"

"As if!" Kitty laughed before jogging down the hall not waiting for Kurt to follow. She didn't get far when she bumped into somebody. 

"Oof!" Kitty gasped, winded by the impact. She blushed when she looked up and saw that he was John. He reached out to steady her by her shoulders when she took a quick step back and almost fell over. 

"Oh...um…sorry," she hastily murmured. "I didn't, like, see you." 

"S'okay," he told her, smiling down at her. "You headin' home now, Kitty?"

She flashed a stunning grin, embarrassment slightly forgotten. "You bet! We're leaving in, like, an hour and I still need to pack some things."

John had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. How in the world did she still need to pack when she was doing it ALL week long?

"You and Magma are so strange," he said at last. "Take a bathing suit and call it done," he joked. "There is no need to take everything you own on the trip."

"Just a bathing suit? Whatever! I don't think Logan wouldn't approve of that," Kitty laughed, a hot pink blush creeping into her cheeks again. "Who are you going home with?"

"Piotr, I think," John replied, his brow wrinkling cutely in thought, "if I can find him. You haven't seen the big lug anywhere have you?"

"No," Kitty said, shaking her head. "But you might wanna, like, check in room 108. I think his last class is Honor's Algebra 2."

"Thanks." John paused and scratched his fiery orange head. "Why in the bloody world would he still be in class?"

"Don't know," she replied honestly with a small shrug. "Well I'm going home with Scott. I'll see back at the institute okay?"

John smiled. "Okay. Thanks again, Kitty…. Oh, wait, before you go…"

Still glowing, Kitty tried to move passed him but she stopped in her tracks when she noticed that he wanted to say something more. She looked back at him and waited. He looked really nervous too. Like he was going to ask her something important but didn't know if he should or not. There were butterflies in her stomach suddenly and her mouth was totally dry as she gaped at him, her eyes were large as saucers.

Oh God, was he going to ask her out?!

"What is it, John?" she squeaked softly.

"Um…," the Aussie continued to struggle. Kitty held her breath. "I was wondering if…"

"Yes?" Her heart felt like it was going to jump out of her throat. If he asks me out on a date, she thought, I'm so going to say yes! Please ask me out on a date, John!

Oh, if only Kitty was a telepath!

"I was just wondering and hoping that…It would be really nice to…erm…" John suddenly smiled and offered a shaky laugh as he scratched the back of his neck.

Kitty bit her lower lip, finding his bashfulness completely adorable. Come on, John! She urged with her mind. I'll say yes!

"We've known each other for a good 4 months now, right, and I…" John muttered then stopped. He sighed and looked defeated for a moment before numbly proceeding, "Never mind, Kitty. I'll see you back at the mansion, okay?"

(A/N: the time line of this story is completely whack! Just go along with it, okay?)

Kitty struggled not to let her poignant disappointment show in her expression but it was so hard to keep from crying in front of John or from kicking him as hard as she could. "Oh…okay," she whispered, hanging her head. "I…I guess I'll, like, see you later then." With that she turned and hurried down the hall to outside. 

John watched the younger girl walk off, soon to be lost in the gigantic crowd of bodies. He sighed as adjusted his backpack, feeling an awful pang of something hit him square in the heart. He didn't know what it was. Love? Longing? Fear? John sighed. Maybe it was a deadly combination of all three plus as pinch of regret that he did ask her out when he had the chance. She looked so sad when he didn't. He really didn't mean to hurt her.

But Kitty sure did look cute today in her pink hoodie, he help but muse. It really brought out an attractive glow in her cheeks. He sighed again thinking that Kitty would never be interested in a guy like him. They would stay friends and remained as such no doubt. Still he ought to ask her out again or something, right? There was no use in pinning away day in and day out without having the gumption to do anything about it, was there?

"Why you be lookin' so down, John?" the Cajun asked, suddenly standing at the pyromaniac's side. 

Usually John would grin and say something smart, but now, with his jolly mood weighed down by his girl troubles, John just shrugged and offered another sigh of remorse. Then he looked at Remy and glared. How was it that he got all the girls?! It wasn't fair. John had a damn accent too and was almost as tall as the Cajun. What was he lacking?

"I fucking hate you, mate." And he meant it. With every fiber of his being he wished that he could cast that charming handsome boy into the bowels of hell so the other guys on earth could have a chance of making it with a girl.

Remy was too startled to be angry and then too amused to be confused by his friend's outburst. "Um…sorry?" he muttered. "What's eatin' you, John?"

"It ain't nothing," he snapped sourly, shaking his head. It wasn't long before his eyes returned to the spot where Kitty had been before she had disappeared from sight. John bit his lip and pouted. He was never going to get the balls to ask a girl like Kitty out on a date.

Remy cocked a brow, his eyes following John's stare. "This is serious," he said. "Since when is John ever this melancholy?"

"Since a fellow x-girl stole my heart as well as my guts without knowing it," John whimpered.

"I see. It's Kitty again."

John turned to look at Remy, an inch from whining like the frustrated boy he was. "How'd you fucking guess?"

"I didn't need to guess. You've been pinning after the fille for a long while, mon ami. You gonna do anything about it?"

"I've tried!" John shouted out, looking extremely exasperated. "But I totally freaked! Besides she might not even like me that way! And why would she? I'm a fucking weirdo!" 

"You're not a weirdo, John."

"How many people do you fucking know have orange hair?!"

"Kurt has blue hair. He's pretty normal."

"He's not even human!" John whined.

Remy's good intentions faltered. "Err…Point taken."

The younger boy sighed again. "Forget about it. I can't tell her how I feel. She'll probably turn me down but will still want to be friends." John frowned. "I hate when girls say that."

Remy moved to pat the other boy on the shoulder consolingly. "You gotta do something," he told him. "Maybe she's waitin' for you? She's pretty shy herself ya know."

"Man, why do all the guys have to make the first move?!" John complained.

"Dunno, homme. Just give it a try. It could work. I mean I've seen Kitty stare at you when you're not noticin' her at the dinner table," Remy told him.

A light was immediately on in John's eyes as his head snapped towards the Cajun with ungodly speed. "Really?" he squeaked in disbelief.

Remy nodded. "Oui. She stares like she trying to figure something out in that pretty little head of hers, like she's trying to say something but can't find the right words."

"Shit! Are you fucking serious!?"

"Remy never lies."

"Whatever. Man, I gotta do something!" John replied, his bravado doubled and as strong as ever. "Maybe take her somewhere in New Orleans or do something nice for her." Remy could just see a plan form in his mind and grinned.

"So, you going home with Piotr?" he asked after a moment.

"Oh yeah. I almost forgot. I can't find him," John said. "Kitty said he might be in class still. Wanna help me get him?"

Remy smirked, loving the devilish pitch in his friend's voice. "What d'ya have in mind?"

"Just wait and see, Cajun!"

~*~*~*~

Practically running to the parking lot, Kitty meant to make it all the way to Scott's car before she burst into tears but when she saw Rogue standing by Remy's motorcycle she decided to take a slight detour. Scott would not be as sympathetic to Kitty if she sobbed all over the inside on his car.

"Rogue!" she cried out, breathless from her frantic run. "John, like, totally hates me!"

Her somber roommate didn't have time to prepare and defend as Kitty flung herself into Rogue's arms, the pent-up tears finally streaming down Kitty's flushed face.

"Kitty?! What the fuck?!" Rouge gasped, the wind knocked right out of her lungs from the violent impact. 

Helpless, she stared down at the girl he clung to her and was sobbing all over her brand new trench coat. Rogue didn't really know what to do. She had half a mind to fling the blubbering mess off of her before she remembered that Kitty was her friend.

Gritting her teeth, Rogue sighed and wrapped her arms around Kitty's trembling form. "What is it?" she asked, forcing her voice to sound sympathetic.

"It's John!" Kitty wailed loudly through her rush of tears. "He hates me!"

Rogue frowned. What a load of bullshit, she told herself. "That's crazy," she replied instead, shaking Kitty's shoulder as if trying to knock some sense into her. "How could he? What did he do?"

"He…he…"Kitty choked between her gasping sobs. "In the hallway, it looked like he…want to say something to me. Then he totally didn't and, like, brushed me off! I totally thought he was going to ask me out! And he didn't! He's a big…JERK!"

"That's crazy too," Rogue repeated firmly. "Get a hold of yourself, girl! John can't hate you. He likes you. He has liked you all along. He probably _was_ going to ask you out or something but lost his nerve."

Kitty sniffled pathetically and wiped her running nose with the back of her hand. "Really? You think so."

"Yes," Rogue heaved exasperatedly. "And if you're so sure that he was going to ask you out, why don't you ask him out yourself?"

Kitty was horrified. "Me? Ask John out? What if he says no?"

"He won't."

She pouted. "It's so hard! Like, why do all the girls have to make the first move?!"

"You'll have to try something soon before one of you looses interest and finds other guy or girl to drool over," Rogue told her with a shrug.

"Fine! I will!" Kitty replied. The image of John with another girl sent red-hot anger coursing through her body. She'd be damned if she left him slip away from her so easily. 

Rogue smiled. "Good," she said and promptly heaved the girl off of her. She frowned when she saw the front was completely drenched. "Damn it, Kitty! This was brand new! Remy's gonna kill me!"

"Sorry," the contrite looking girl replied.

Rogue growled and started to clean herself off with her scarf. "It's nothing," she murmured. 

"Okay. Um…like, thanks, Rogue."

She looked up, the bright irritation glowing in her eyes quickly dwindling, and offered a small smile. "It's no problem, Kitty," she said in an unusually soft voice.

"Are you, like, waiting for Remy?" Kitty asked as she dried her face.

"Yeah. You going home with Scooter?"

The younger girl nodded, wiping her eyes. "Yeah," she answered, sniffing. "Hopefully Jean can, like, talk him into driving fast. I still need to pack some things."

The other girl cocked an eyebrow and Kitty stuck out her tongue childishly.

"Are you, like, getting totally excited?" she asked, feeling her high spirits rushing back to her. "I could hardly sit still in my last class. I kept thinking about Mardi Gras and hardly paid any attention."

"It's gonna be great," Rogue replied, another small smile brightening her pale features. Then a slight frown creased her forehead as she sighed; "Though two days in a car stuck with Bobby or Kurt ain't all that appealing to me," she added.

Kitty smiled. "I'm looking forward to the drive. What's a road trip without, like, cars? I'm glad the professor isn't, like, taking the X-jet. Besides Remy's driving one of the cars so you'll, like, get shotgun to whole way."

"Probably. See you back at the mansion, okay?"

"Okay." Kitty waved at the southerner before hurrying across the lot to Scott's bright red mustang.

Rogue watched Kitty leave and then waited for another five minutes for Remy to show up. She sighed and leaned against his motorcycle, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at those who stared at her. Well it wasn't every day that the Bayville rogue had a beau. People were still getting use to the idea. Finally she her boyfriend emerge from the side entrance of the school. She smiled and pulled her thin wet coat tighter around her form.

"Bonjour, chere," Remy said, smiling as he joined her as his bike. When he saw the front of her coat, he cocked an eyebrow. "What happened to you? You've been cryin'?" Wasn't it just adorable that he looked ready to kill someone?

"Settle down, Gumbo. I drooled on myself when I saw you," she replied sarcastically, securing a slow chuckle from Remy. "It was Kitty."

"Oh? And what was Kitty up to?"

"Nothing. A girl thing."

"Oh. _D'accord_," Remy muttered, looking slightly puzzled. 

"She was crying her eyes out because she thought John hated her," Rogue cried out in irritation. She shook her head and blew the hair out of her eyes. "Those two are totally hopeless!"

"Yeah, they are," Remy murmured, opting to help Rogue out and smooth a lose strain of hair behind her ear. 

Rogue blushed, once more touched by Remy's thoughtfulness but not enough to show him. "Thanks, dad," she joked. "You gonna tie my shoes too?"

He laughed, leaning in quickly to steal a kiss, and said, "I ran into John in there. Bummed as hell 'cuz he didn't have the balls to ask Kitty out. You've been waitin' long, chere?"

Rogue shook her head as she watched him climb onto the vehicle. She was mighty appreciative that he was wearing his leather pants that day. "Nope," she took her eyes of his long enough to answer. "I just got out here."

"John was running around trying to find Piotr. So he, of course, had to drag me around with him."

"Did he?" she asked, mounting the seat behind him.

"Yeah. Piotr was still in class, finishing up some notes." Remy shook his head and kicked the motorcycle into gear. "We hauled his ass outta the classroom before he could finish though. Desk and all. Not a light task, mind you. Remy thinks he strained his back some."

Rogue laughed and wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning in to rest her head on his shoulder. "Poor baby," she cooed close to his ear. "Well I'm glad to see that things haven't changed for you three. I hope he'll lighten up in New Orleans," she told him.

"Don't worry, petite. He will. Somber moods don't last long there. And if he doesn't, I'll get him drunk. Easy as pie. You still have some packing to do, chere?"

"Kinda," she admitted shyly.

Remy chuckled and shook his head. "And _you_ said Kitty was bad, chere!"

"Hey! At least I'm not taking half my wardrobe!" Rogue told him and pinched his shoulder.

"That mean you be walking around New Orleans in nothin'?" His teasing smile made her glare at him. "That's somthin' Remy would dearly love to see."

"No, I'm not going commando!"

"Damn. Well I know one thing you still have to pack."

"What?"

He shot a smile over his shoulder. "Remy got you somethin', chere."

They rode out of the parking lot before Rogue had the time to ask what it was.

~*~*~*~

Utter pandemonium reigned supreme when Remy and Rogue arrived. Most of the students had gotten home earlier so they were running up and down the steps in a frenzy, shouting at each other and hauling luggage to the x-cars that waited outside in the front driveway. The adults were supervising or at least Ororo, Jean, and Scott where. Being the overachievers they were, Jean and Scott were probably already to go. 

Sam almost knocked Rogue to the ground as he shot down the stairs to the door in cannonball form while the couple was walking through the entrance. Rogue was thrown against Remy who automatically reached out to collect her before she fell flat on her ass.

Rogue was on her feet in an instant and shouting out the front door. "Watch where the hell you're going, Sam!" she yelled. 

"Sorry, Rogue!" the younger boy replied before he crashed into the front lawn, his suitcase popping open and spilling his clothes.

"Kids these day," she muttered, turning away in disgust. "It's like they have never been on a trip before."

"At least there won't be a dull moment," Remy offered, smiling down at her.

"That's what I'm afraid of."

Their loitering soon caught the red eye of Scott and before they knew it Boy Wonder was marching over to cuddly couple, his face set in a grim expression. "Rogue, Gambit, we leave in half an hour," he told them in a no-nonsense voice that was just plain laughable. "Could you get ready?"

Rogue frowned at him. "What the hell's your problem?" Out of all the students, Scott seemed the most argumentative about the former Acolytes joining and to their relationship as well. Just because he wasn't getting any from Ms. It's-not-that-I-want-to-stay-a-virgin-it's-just-that-your-dick-is-so-small-Scott Grey didn't mean he had the right to harp on any other relationship in the household. 

"We can't be behind schedule, Rogue," he explained it to her like she was stupid or something. "If we want to be in New Orleans before Mardi Gras, we need to leave as soon as possible."

"Calm down, homme," Remy replied in his unhurried drawl. "New Orleans will still be there. It ain't going anywhere anytime soon. Come on, chere, before Scooter explodes or somethin'."

Rogue laughed and followed her boyfriend to the main steps where the Wind Rider stood and observed with a bottle of water in one hand and a bottle of aspirin in the other. 

"Hey, Ororo, letting Scott take over for you?"

The weather goddess turned and smiled. "Of course. Let him worry about everything. These are for him anyway." Ororo gestured to the painkillers. "He's making his way towards a massive headache."

Rouge chuckled. "Where's Logan?"

The other women shrugged. "Most likely sulking in the garage with his beer," she said, cracking a smile that lit up her brilliant blue eyes. "He just found out that there will be no drinking on the trip."

"What?!" Rogue felt like screaming. "Oh man, Logan's going to be more short-tempered than ever," she complained, feeling righteously mortified. A weeklong sober Logan was a scary thing to deal with. 

Ororo nodded and turned to look at Remy. "No drinking," she repeated firmly.

Remy smirked. "I head de first time, Stormy. No drinking."

The teacher glared at him. The deadly chill in her blue eyes could have trapped the world in a nuclear winter for a good century and maybe then some. To bad Remy was a warm-blooded creature. "See to it that you follow through."

"But I don't drink," he said, offering his best act of wide-eyed innocence. "I'm underage."

She didn't make a point to hide her disbelief as she scoffed. "And I don't water my plants seven times a day."

"Fine," Remy gave in with a sigh. "No drinking. Thief's honor."

Ororo just shook her head at him and walked away. Rogue watched her leave and poked Remy in the side. 

"I don't think she believes you."

Remy ginned. "Why would she? Xavier's out of his mind if he thinks he can get away with no drinking in New Orleans."

"Whatever. Let's go. I wanna see what you got me."

"Eager aren't we?"

She nudged him up the steps. "You bet. Now move that fine ass of yours before I do it for you."

"Ooh, please do, chere." He shook his ass and Rogue grinned as she smacked it soundly.

Laughing, Remy grabbed her hand and walked with her to his room. When the door was opened, Rouge hurried it and slumped down upon the bed, swinging her legs from side to side in her excitement. Remy smiled and moved to his closest, retrieving a box wrapped in shiny silver paper and a black bow. He handed it to her and Rogue had to stop herself from giving it a good shake to hear if something rattled inside.

"What is it?" she asked instead.

Remy shrugged and walked to the other side of the room where he waited. She looked at him, confused.

"Why y'all the way over there?"

"Protection."

She smiled and pulled off the bow. The silver paper followed until only the plain bow was left in her lap. Biting her lower lip, she tugged off the lid and gazed inside. All she saw was tissue paper and she eagerly tossed that aside until her fingers caressed something plastic. Frowning with concentration, she pulled it out and saw that it she was holding Mardi Gras beads. At the bottom of the box, was a dozen or so more multicolored necklaces, some simple and some very elaborate. Her laugh became out as a low snort. 

"What? I don't have to flash you?" she asked, pulling some on. 

Remy smiled. "You don't need a reason to flash me."

"Man, Logan's going to kill me," she said, fingering the plastic beads carefully.

"But what's Mardi Gras without 'em?" he asked. "You like?"

She looked at her boyfriend and smiled. "Yes." She jumped up and ran across the run and proceeded to jump in his arms, warping her own as well as er her legs around him. She kissed his chin. "Thank you."

"No problem, chere," he purred, happily locking his hands together under her bottom so he wouldn't drop her. 

"You still have to pack?"

He shrugged. "You women and your damn packing," he sighed. "Believe it or not, chere, but a man could take just one outfit and call it done. Why do you have to take so much?"

Rogue rolled her eyes. "Fine. I don't have to take my sexy lingerie. I can just leave it here. Don't want to take too much, ya know." Grinning quiet evilly, she pulled herself out of embrace and walked to the door.

"No, take the lingerie," he said, grabbing her hand before she could leave and kissing it. "You can leave anything else behind."

She laughed and ran a finger under his chin, scratching his goatee playfully. "Nice try, Remy," she purred, trying to pull off her most sensual voice.

"You can't blame me for trying, chere."

"Whatever. I'll see you later, Cajun." With her box of beads, Rogue headed out of Remy's room to her own to finish packing.

~*~*~*~

Amara and Kitty were chatting excitedly with one other about the trip when Rogue walked in. They stopped and turned to her, their eyes almost bulging out of their skulls when they saw what she was wearing.

"Oh my god! Where did you, like, get the beads?" Kitty asked.

Rogue snickered at them. "My boyfriend," she replied in a sly dreamy voice. "Hmm…I do like the sound of that!"

The girl giggled hysterically. "Logan's, like, gonna kill you!" 

Rogue shrugged and walked to her closet. 

"What's the big deal with the beads?" Rouge heard the innocent Amara ask and shook her head. "They look so tacky. I wouldn't walk around with them on my neck!"

"The beads are totally cool!" Kitty replied. "If you want them in New Orleans, you have to lift up your shirt and, like, flash people! It's, like, such a big deal!"

Amara gasped. "You kidding, right? That's so…obscene!"

Kitty shrugged, not really caring if the princess didn't see her as ladylike anymore. "Too bad Logan won't let us do it," she mused to herself. "Sounds like fun."

"Oh my God!" Amara sounded completely horrified. "Kitty, you sound like a…a common tramp or something! Don't talk like that! And don't tell me you would actually do it?"

The presumably pure Kitty offered a mysterious smile and replied, "I don't know, Amara. I mean, like, I'm only going to be there once. Might as well try it."

Rogue laughed. "My cute little corrupted roommate," she said, pulling a silky and very sheer black slip from a secret location in her closet. She didn't even try to hide it from the other girls.

For the second time, Amara gasped, her eyes widening at the lewd outfit.

"What is _that_?!"

"Lingerie," Rogue replied, smiling wickedly as she folded the luxuriously thin silk carefully and packed it into her suitcase. 

"Oh la la!" Kitty chimed in. "Where did you, like, get it?"

"Yesterday at Victoria's Secret."

Kitty pouted. "You went without me?"

"It was a secret."

The other girl rolled her eyes and continued to sulk. "Nice pun."

"No really. It **was** a secret."

"Does your hunky Cajun boyfriend, like, know about it?"

"Kinda. Man, I can't wait to put it on and show him!" She blushed a little. Though it might be hard to try to find some time for more private moments, Rogue would make sure she'd slip that silky temptation on at least once before the break was over.

"Remy's gonna die when he sees you in that!" 

"I hope so," Rogue added. "I even got a garter."

Kitty gaped. "It is that short?!"

"You bet, sugar!"

"Oh my god! I saw have to get a picture of you in that!" the younger girl exclaimed, clapping her hands together in front of her as if to hold her excitement. 

An evil idea suddenly popped into Rogue mind and she grinned, quite pleased with her mischief. "That's a good idea!" she said. "We can make a copy and send it to Remy." 

"That's so wrong," Kitty replied, looking repelled. "Let's do it!"

Amara sighed and shook her head. "You girls are so weird! Why would you want to give him something that…sleazy?"

Rogue smirked. "An instant hard-on makes for instant sex."

Kitty screamed and fell to her bed in a fit of giggles. "God! That sounds like a dirty Chinese proverb or something!" she laughed hysterically. "Now we definitely, like, have to do it!"

Amara rolled her eyes and marched out of the room, her nose turned up in disgust. 

"Damn, that girl needs to lighten up!" Rogue contemplated when she heard the door slam shut.

Kitty shrugged. "Princess Amara doesn't, like, want to talk about sex with, like, commoners," she said. "Oh well. No more pg-13 for us!"

"What's this? Kitty wants to talk about…sex?" Rogue forged surprised as she gaped at her roommate.

"Come on. You never gave me any of the details and I've, like, been quiet and kept your secret."

"But John talked," she pointed out

"That was a totally accident!"

"Fine." Rogue realized that she was just as eager as Kitty and gave up trying to change the subject. "You want the R version or the NC-17?" Rogue asked, sitting down besides the younger girl. "We gotta talk fast though or else Scott will come up here and kicks us out the door."

Kitty's blue eyes were bright with excitement. "NC-17 version all the way!"

"I was hopin' you would say that. Now on to all the naughty, sweaty details." Rogue found it hard not to clasp her hands in front of her and give an evil cackle.

"Next time we fool around, why don't you tape it and send Kitty-cat a copy, chere?" 

Both girls proceeded to blush and drop to the ground in utter humiliation for a Cajun was suddenly standing in the doorway, grinning like the cat that ate the canary. 

"God _damn_ it, Remy!" Rogue groaned, her bright red face buried 3 inches into the rug. 

"It is so, like, embarrassing." Kitty moaned.

Remy shrugged and strolled on in. 

Rogue lifted her head from the ground and glared at him. "What the hell do you want?" she snapped, frowning.

"Stormy wants me to tell you to get down into the foyer," he told his girlfriend. "You finished packing?"

Rogue nodded. He closed her suitcase and walked with it out of the room. 

"I won't be able to look at him anymore!" Kitty spoke up, her face still crimson with humiliation.

"Damn that swamp rat," Rogue swore again, quickly sitting up. "I think he was just waiting for the right moment to walk in. Jerk. Let's see if he gets any now."

Giggling, Kitty buried her face in her hands and waited for her bright blush to leave her so she take her suitcases with her to the entrance on the mansion.

~*~*~*~

"All right everyone!" Scott called their attention has he stood in front of the large crowd of excited mutants in the front lawn. There fearless leader was more than a little eye sore dressed in a pair of khaki shorts, bright floral tee-shirt, sandals, and black socks. 

Rogue tried not to laugh at her questionable attire but how could she not? She snorted behind her hand, trying to be as quiet as possible, but Scott caught her.

"What is it, Rogue?" he asked her curtly, frowning.

"Nothing," she laughed before coughing and trying to compose herself. "It's nothing."

Beside her, Remy snickered.

Still glaring, Scot continued, "Like I was saying. Before we load into the cars, I have a list of where everyone's going." 

Muttered disappointment ran throughout the group as the students shifted uneasily, scowling all the while.

Ororo stepped forward, dressed in a pale pink gown and a light overcoat and no doubt much more pleasing to look at, and said, "Xavier, Evan, and Sam are riding with me."

"I'm with two adults?! That's so lame!" Evan moaned, slapping his forehead with his hand.

"It ain't bad," Sam told him with a sheepish smile, thinking that Ororo was looking very pretty today.

"And I've the rat pack," Logan snarled, glaring daggers at everyone, especially at Rogue who was still proudly displaying the gaudy beads. "Bobby, Jamie, and Ray."

"Oh man!" Bobby sighed. "Some fun this trip will be."

"Rat pack?!" Ray shot out, sparks of electricity sizzling at his fingertips. 

"And Jean, Kurt, Amara, and Roberto are coming with me," Scott announced. 

Rouge looked at her boyfriend and glared. "I'm not riding with you."

"Too bad, mon petit champignon," he purred, smiling. "I'm driving and you, Kitty, John, and Piotr are in my car."

Rogue's glare turned even icier. "I'm not a mushroom," she hissed.

"But you're _my_ little mushroom," Remy cooed, pinching her cheek before she bared her teeth at him. 

Beside Rogue, Kitty giggled lightly and asked, "Whose idea was it for, like, all of us to be stuck in the same car?"

"Luck of the draw, petite," Remy replied with a shrug.

"All right, everyone," Xavier announced, grabbing their dwindling attention. "Quickly find your cars and settle in. I would like us to be on the road in five minutes if possible."

With that said, the students broke their formation and hurried to the cars. Grumbling, Rogue followed Remy to one of the large X-vehicles with Kitty, John, and Piotr not far behind. 

"Well, at least we're not stuck with a teacher," she said, climbing into the passenger seat.

"And you get to be with Remy all the way to New Orleans," Remy told her, shutting her door like the gentleman he was.

Rogue shrugged. "I'm still mad at you."

He pouted and rounded the car to the driver's side. In the back, Rogue turned and saw the other three climbed inside.

"Damn, you could fit anything in here!" John exclaimed, his eyes gazing over the large, comfortable interior of the SUV. "It's like a mini house!"

Blushing, Kitty settled next to him on the seat with Piotr taking the back seat by the window. John leaned forward and started to fiddle with some of the gadgets, also blushing and nervously avoiding eye contact with Kitty.

"Ooh, I wonder what this does," he murmured, playing with a knob. "Piotr, look and see what's back there!"

"Um…a case of beer. And a bottle of vodka?"

"Happy Mardi Gras, Piotr," Remy said, climbing into the driver's seat. "That vodka's for you."

"Thank you."

Rogue's eyes immediately snapped to Remy and he snickered as he turned on the car. 

"What, chere?" he asked, pulling out of the driveway behind Ororo's car.

"No drinking," she told him, snapping her seat belt in place. "You brought that in here, didn't you?"

"Maybe."

"Hey! Did you get anything for me, mate?"

"Coffee."

"Woohoo! Thankies."

"But no talking about the alcohol. It's a secret."

"You're bribing us?!"

"You say it as though it's something bad, John. And for the kitty-cat, I got Malibu Rum."

In the rear view mirror Rogue saw Kitty's eyes gaze over and some drool from in the corner of her mouth. "Really? That's, like, my favorite drink! Thanks!"

Rogue turned to look at her roommate. "I didn't know you drank," she said.

Kitty smiled. "I can also tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue."

"Hey, I can say the alphabet backwards," John added, grinning as she drank his coffee happily. "Piotr, what's something we don't know about you besides the fact that you like to move things?"

The Russian frowned in contemplation. "My favorite movie is 'Beauty and the Beast'," he replied, not even ashamed. "Rogue?"

"Hmm…I was totally in love with N'Sync when they first came out," Rogue replied, sheepishly. 

"Bitch!" Kitty gasped. "The Backstreet boys could totally whoop their butts any day!"

"Whatever! Lance Bass was cuter than all of those loser put together," Rogue argued. "I honestly thought I would marry that man one day."

"I was in love with Howie," Kitty sighed. "He was so sweet. Kinda like a big teddy bear."

"Thank God I discovered punk rock and grew out of the phase," the other girl said, shuddering. 

"Me too." Kitty frowned. "Sorta. I still like pop but no more teenyboppers for me. I hate Brittany. She's such a ho."

Rogue laughed and looked at her boyfriend. "What's a secret of yours, Cajun?" she asked.

"You know all my secrets, chere," he murmured softly so only she heard as he continued to drive down the street. She blushed and thought about smacking his leg. "I have great timing," he teased.

"Boring," John yawned.

"Hmm…One time I won 50 thousand dollars playing a hand in poker," he tried again.

"Really?" Kitty asked. "What did you get with the money?"

"A new trench coat?" Piotr offered.

"A hair cut?"

"Nah. All the money went to my…er…job," Remy replied, looking slightly uneasy for a moment.

"That sucks."

The Cajun just shrugged without further comment.

"So what's the plan for, like, today?" Kitty asked.

"We're gonna drive as far as we can today. Xavier hopes to get to Philadelphia tonight. We can spend the night there since he already has reservations at one of the hotels," Remy told them. "It gonna be a long drive so, everyone, get comfortable."

To Be Continued

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Author's Note: I don't know if you can get to Philly from Bayville in a day. I'm just guessing. ^__^ Well I really hope you like it! More to come soon! Please review. **begs**


	3. The Problem with Road Trips

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Rainy Day Road Trip by Melfina Lupin

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Author's Note: Oh my god! Thank you for all your great reviews! This is doing better then I imagined it would! I'm so sorry for the slow update. I had major writer's block. Not fun. -_-; Then my thanksgiving break rolled around and I played FF9 for 3 days straight when I should have been updating! Well I hope you guys are still reading and like the new chapter!

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Disclaimer: I don't own the x-men 

~*~*~*~

Chapter 3

The Problems with Road Trips

"God, if I don't get out soon, my butt's going to fall asleep!" Rogue complained in an exasperated whisper as she shifted uneasily in her seat for the umpteenth time in the last five minutes. 

She sighed, knowing that it wouldn't get any better, and leaned back against her seat. It wasn't very pleasant to have the feeling of pins and needles in her backside but what could she do about it? Rubbing the feeling back into her ass in front of her boyfriend would be too embarrassing and a tad bit too raunchy for her tastes. 

They had been driving almost nonstop for most of the day, and had taken about an hour rest stop to grab some dinner around 6. Now it was well into the night and darkness had settled into the countryside hours ago. It was pitch black outside as they drove along the coast, their brilliant headlights seeming even whiter in the darkness. Even though it was cold and gloomy outside, the people safely tucked away in the interior of the car felt warm and cozy.

"Just a bit more, petite," Remy murmured, settling his right hand on her leg consolingly as he kept his attention on the spiraling back road. "Can you hold on for about 30 minutes? We should be in Philadelphia soon."

Rogue glowered. "We better be," she hissed, stirring uneasily again. "I'm gonna kill the professor when we stop. How can he think that we sit for 5 hours straight? And one break ain't enough."

"He doesn't want to be behind schedule. Hopefully tomorrow it won't be so hard," Remy chuckled softly and glanced up into the rear view mirror and smiled. "They're still asleep."

Rogue turned around and found enough gumption to smile also. Kitty was snuggled up against John, both of them fast asleep and looking completely adorable. Piotr was laying down in the back seat, asleep too. Too bad her camera was in her back in the backseat. It would have been fun taking photos and using them as blackmail.

"Thank god," she whispered honestly. "I don't want to have to hear '99 bottles of beer on the wall' ever again."

"How many times did John sing it?"

Rogue frowned and rubbed her aching eyes. "Probably about 10 times before Piotr started signing it in Russian. You really shouldn't have let them drink all the alcohol or, in John's case, coffee."

"But they're out like lights now, chere," Remy murmured, the hand still on her leg beginning to massage ever so lightly as if traveled further up her thigh. Even as she wanted to melt at his warm caress she was still cautious.

"Do you **want** me to break it?" Rogue asked, glaring at her boyfriend with false annoyance while trying not to break into a smile.

He just grinned at her. "Why so testy, chere? They ain't gonna see anything. Everyone's asleep and it's dark. Maybe you oughta try some of Kitty's stuff and loosen up?"

She continued to glare at him. "Is sex **all** you think about, Cajun?"

"Not so, chere," he replied. "You should know Remy well enough to know that he also thinks about bourbon and his motorcycle from time to time."

Rogue wasn't impressed. "That all?"

He turned and flashed a gentle grin that made her iron resistance want to fly out the nearest window. "But he spends the majority of his time thinking about his belle fille."

"Sweet talker," she replied, blushing before she uneasily glanced towards her darkened window. She had absorbed his psyche into her own when he was unconscious and knew Remy more than he thought she did. She didn't know why she hadn't told him. Knowing that Remy was a little uneasy about people learning about his inimical past, Rogue decided that what he didn't know, didn't hurt him. 

"Besides, petite," his slow voice brought her back to the present as she felt his touch crept higher, "I know you're enjoying it."

She smacked him and moved her leg away from his tough. "Even so just save it for the hotel room, swamp rat, all right? I don't wanna get caught doing anything embarrassing."

Remy chuckled, his eyes dancing with merriment, and withdrew his hand. "That a promise?"

She huffed and quickly crossed her arms over her chest. "If you behave, we'll see." Damn it all to hell! Remy was just too cute to refuse or stay mad at for very long.

Remy purred in contentment and returned his hand to the steering wheel. Still fuming slightly, Rogue looked out her window and stared absentmindedly into the thick darkness. She yawned after a moment, feeling the heavy sensation of exhaustion weigh down on her, and close her eyes for a shot nap.

"Night, chere," she heard him murmur before the gentle rocking of the car lured her off to sleep.

She was shaken awake a little bit later by Remy.

"Chere, we're here," he whispered gently, standing on by the outside on her side and leaning in. "Time to open those beautiful green eyes and wake up."

She growled in her sleep, not even bothering to wake up enough to glare at him. "Leave me alone," she slurred, turning around in her seat, away from him and from the chilly draft the open door let in. "I'm tired."

"You not sleeping in the car," he told her, laughter ringing in his voice. "Wake up, petite."

"No... It's cold out. Hey! Don't drop me!"

Not waiting for his stubborn girlfriend to get up, Remy reached in and hauled her into his arms, closed the door, and carried her to the group of mutants who were standing in the dark parking lot of the hotel, waiting for directions from the leaders. Many of the younger kids looked tired after the long ride but Rogue continued to sleep, cuddled up, warm and content like a kitten, against Remy's chest.

"You're going to get me to carry you to your room, aren't you?" he asked, gazing down at her.

A smile appeared on Rogue's face. "You bet."

"All right, students," Xavier called out at the front of the group. "We had a long ride today and an even longer one tomorrow." There were countless groans of protest. "But we well go at a much gradual pace. Nevertheless I advise you all to get as much sleep as you can. Also I would like you to be on you best behavior. So that means no pranks and the like. Ororo has the list of roommates and the number to the suits you will be staying at tonight."

At that, Ororo stepped forward, said list in hand, and started to speak.

"Jean and Magma will be in room 200. Kitty and Rogue will be in room 201. Kurt and Scott your room is 110. Roberto and Sam, you room is 120. Piotr, Remy, and John, your room is 125. Bobby and Ray, 113. And Evan and Jamie, 114. I will be in 202. Logan will be in 126. And the professor will be in 124. Any questions?"

"Does anyone else get the feeling that me, Remy, and Piotr, are being watched?" John muttered. "I mean we have adults on both sides!"

Kitty, who was standing next to him, giggled. "Rogue and me are, like, surrounded too," she told him, shivering from the late night frigidity.

"You cold, Kitty?" John asked quietly.

The younger girl shrugged and tried to stop shivering. "A little," she admitted.

John bit his lower lip before bravely stepping closer to the younger girl and wrapping his left arm around her slender shoulders. "Any better?" he asked, blushing and scared that Kitty would push him away.

Kitty was blushing too. "Yeah, lots."

Remy was grinning as he watched the whole thing a few feet back. "Hey, Rogue, open your eyes for a moment."

"What do you want?" she muttered drowsily.

"Look at John and Kitty."

Rogue opened an eye a sliver and looked. "Aw, ain't young love so cute," she purred before buried her face against his neck and closing her eyes.

"Students, do not worry about your bags," Ororo continued as the large group grew uneasy, ready to bolt and find their rooms. "Valets will carry them to your room as soon as possible. Have a good night. Breakfast is at 9 and we set out at 10."

The crowd of sleepy-eyed students nodded, got their keys from the weather witch, and slowly made their way inside the warm hotel. Ororo gave Remy an odd look before handing him both Rogue's and his keys. But he just grinned and walked into the hotel. Boy, was it nice! Remy made a low whistle of approval. 

Outside, the building was made up of gray stone, with countless windows and six stories. Inside was just as elegant. Dark, polished wood gleamed along with snow-white marble while sitting areas were scattered here and there in the large foyer.

"Xavier sure didn't spare no expense," he murmured, looking around the regal lobby. To bad Rogue wasn't awake to enjoy any of it. 

It had been a while since he slept in such a fine establishment. But that was all in the past and Remy didn't want to spend much time thinking of the past. It was too bloody and too painful.

Still some ancient memories managed to surface despite his effort to quench them and he hesitated. For an instant he could smell the suffocating musk of the lilies that she loved so much and the stench of blood on his hands. He heard her scream, and felt his own nausea as he watched her run from the marble lobby to the alleyway. He saw the flash of her white dress, so brilliant against the stains of blood.

_"Remy! What did you do?!"_

"…He's the one who attacked me, chere! I had to defend myself."

The woman in his mind was sobbing hysterically.

_"He challenged me!"_

"He was drunk!"

"He had a gun. He would have killed me!"

Remy growled low in his throat when he finally shook his thoughts away and tried cleared his jumbled mind.

"Damn it," he hissed, holding Rogue closer to him like she was the more precious thing in the world, hoping that her warmth would chase away the chills that raked his body. 

He never wanted to remember the horrible night in New Orleans and had so far proved strong enough to repress them until now. He had to repress them or else Rogue might leave him. True she knew about the murder but not much else and he was going to keep it that way. Of course he felt guilty for keeping her in the dark, but he couldn't risk losing her. She meant a lot to him.

When he felt a heavy hand settle on his shoulder, he visibly jumped.

"You all right, Gumbo?"

Remy turned his head and saw that it was just Logan. He was too out of it to be surprised at Logan's concern. He just nodded silently for a moment as he gaped, his throat too dry to say anything. "Yeah," he murmured. "Just tired."

Logan looked like he didn't believe Remy's lie but didn't push it. "Get some rest then. See ya in the morning."

"Night."

"What was that all about?" Rogue asked, opening her eyes to look up into Remy's pale face.

"Nothing, chere. Just tired."

__

"I can walk," Rogue urged. "You look like you're ready to pass out or something."

"I'm fine," he replied, not even looking down at her. "Don't worry, chere."

Rogue sighed, knowing deep inside her that something was very wrong with her boyfriend. But what could she do? If she pushed him too hard, he might explode. Shifting in his arms, Rogue leaned up and pressed a kiss against his neck and murmured, "Thanks for being so nice, Remy, carrying me and all and not dropping me."

"Oh, you know I live for this stuff, chere," he muttered, shifting her so he could hold her better.

Rogue smiled again. "Is chivalry is your middle name?"

"No," Remy grumbled.

"What is it then?"

"I'm not telling."

Intrigue, Rogue opened her eyes and looked up at her boyfriend. "Why not?"

He frowned, looking as sulky as a little child. Well at least color was coming back into his face. "It's a stupid middle name."

"I'm sure it's not that bad," she replied, soothingly.

Remy scoffed and carried her up a flight of stairs. Their peculiar position earned them a couple of shocked looks from the older attendants of the fine hotel but they didn't care much. 

"It's Etienne."

"Huh?"

"It's Remy Etienne Lebeau," he told her, sighing heavily.

"Huh? What's so bad about that? It has a nice ring to it, Remy."

"It's too girlie," he grieved with disrelish. "I hate it and I'll be damned if I ever pass that name down to my children, or my pet cat or dog for that matter. It's fucking stupid."

Rogue giggled that she quickly covered up when Remy sent her a chilly glare. "Why do you hate you middle name so much?" she asked after a moment.

"'Etienne' was the name of my adopted father's pet rat when he was a kid."

"Where father named you after a rat?!" Rogue was more than a little shocked and horrified but she still found it highly amusing. "The swamp rat is names after a rat! That's too good!" she laughed.

"No. A fucking swamp rat could tear you apart. This ain't funny Rogue," he pointed out. "How about I drop you on your ass and leave it at that?"

"Look who's grouchy now!"

Remy rolled her unusual eyes and sighed.

"Oh, don't be like that! I was just teasing you," Rogue told him. 

"S'okay," he murmured after a while. "Here's you room, chere."

"We are already at your room."

Remy pulled out her room key from his pocket and unlocked the door. "There," he murmured when he pushed the door open, revealing the marvelous bedroom beyond.

"Holy shit! It's even nicer than the ones at the mansion!" Rogue gasped as Remy carried her further into the rich, bedecked chamber.

"Which bed you want?"

Rogue pointed to the one by the window. It was large enough to comfortably fit at least two **really** big people or three normal sized people. Either way it was undeniably big. Remy moved over to it and sat her down on the soft, enormous mattress. She almost died when she felt the luscious sensation of silk under her palms. Purring, Rogue collapsed face first onto the bed.

"This feel so nice after the damn car ride!" she sighed, rubbing her cheek against the heavenly fabric. 

Remy smiled at the site and was about ready to leave when Rogue shot up, grabbed his hand, and pulled him down onto the bed, next to her. In a mere matter of second, Rogue was leaning over him, smiling quite devilishly.

"Damn girl, you got some strength!" Remy exclaimed, thoroughly shocked. Not that he minded, of course.

Rogue smiled all the more and leaned down to kiss the very breath out of him. "Are you sure you're okay, Remy?" she asked when she pulled away. The vibrant worry in her eyes ate at his heart.

"Yeah," he replied, uneasy. "It was nothing."

"You were really pale."

"I'm okay now, chere, so don't worry about it."

"All right," Rogue muttered absentmindedly like she wasn't likely to do so. But she sighed and snuggled against his chest. "I didn't mean to tease you about your name. It's a very nice name. You wanna stay until Kitty kicks you out?"

He grinned. "Sounds good to me, chere."

A loud cough at the door had both lovers sitting up immediately and feet apart from one another. Anyone who had a brain knew Ororo's better-think-again cough. And indeed, the weather witch was standing at the open doorway, looking in with her hands on the flare of her hips.

"There was one rule I forgot to mention to you," Ororo calmly told them. "After 10:00, there shall be no boys in girls' rooms and vice versa."

"Damn. And it be already midnight," Remy sighed and stood up. "Night, chere." He leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss against her forehead.

"Good night, Remy." Rogue was too distracted to do anything else but watched Ororo. When Remy was gone, she called out to the older woman before she could leave. "Ororo, can I talk to you alone?"

"Of course. What is it, child?" Ororo asked, walking into the room.

"Um…I'd feel better if you were closer."

Ororo nodded and soon joined Rogue on the bed, one of her smooth, mocha-colored hands reaching out to grasp one of Rogue's. "What it is? It something wrong?" 

"Kinda," Rogue began, shyly looking down into her lap when she found it to intimidating to look into Ororo's bright blue eyes. "I just wanted to talk to you about…Remy and me."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. It's like everyone disapproves of our relationship or something."

"Oh, child," the older woman sighed, smiling as her other hand reached out to touch Rogue's cheek, "you cannot even know how proud I am that you have overcome your powers and have such a close relationship with Remy. You have changed so much over the passed few months. You're kinder, you laugh more, and you talk with Kitty. In so many ways, you've become such an incredible young woman, Rogue."

Rogue blushed. "Really?"

"Yes. Believe me."

"Then why is it that I feel that everyone is trying to like put a damper on our relationship?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean Remy's room is surrounded by adults and so is mine. Jean and Scott never got this much attention!"

"Well Jean and Scott's relationship is moving at a much slower pace than yours and Remy's," Ororo explained. "Your relationship with Remy is, well, very apparent."

"Should we stop being so apparent then?"

Ororo smiled warmly. "Of course not, child. You are just acting natural, that's all."

Rogue sighed, realizing for the first time how good it felt talking to an adult about this kind of stuff. And with Ororo being so nice and accepting, she began to feel a little guilty that she had kept a secret from her. "Ororo, me and Remy, we've…"

"I know, child."

"You do?" she asked, sounding slightly alarmed. "How? You won't tell Logan or the professor will you?"

"Of course not," Ororo replied gently. "But I would like to talk with you more about this. Do you use protection?"

"Um...yes."

"What kind?"

Rogue felt her face heat up to a 100 degrees. Damn it! She knew Ororo would ask that question. But she wanted to put it off as long as possible. It was so embarrassing! 

"Um…you know…er…"

"Condoms?"

"Er…yeah…those…"

"Sometimes, they aren't enough, Rogue," Ororo told her, looking completely nonchalant about this casual sex talk. "I'll get you on birth control as soon as I can. We need to take ever precaution just in case, all right?"

Rogue nodded. "Aren't you going to tell us to stop or something? It's against the rules."

"No, I won't tell you to stop," Ororo said. "You wouldn't listen." 

"But what if the professor finds out about me and Remy? What do you think he'll do?"

"You think he hasn't found out?"

"What?! Ew! Gross!"

Ororo smiled. "He didn't know who to bring the matter up with you. But he would like for me to tell you to keep you…er…love life restricted to the bedroom if you could. No more fooling around in the closet or elsewhere in the mansion for the matter."

"Oh my god! I'm going to die of embarrassment!" Rogue moaned, burying her face in her hands. "Okay. I promise. We'll stop. We'll stop!"

"Good girl," Ororo replied, kissing Rogue's forehead before rising. "Now try to get some sleep. It's late and we have a long day in front of us tomorrow."

"Good night and…thanks, Ororo."

"Any time, child. Even though I am your teacher, I had hoped to become your friend as well."

"Err am I, like, interrupting something?" Kitty asked as she phased through the door and saw Ororo and felt the obviously heavy atmosphere in the room.

"No, Kitty. We're through. Good night, girls."

"Good night, Ororo," Rogue and Kitty replied at the same time as they watched the older woman walk through the doorway and closed the door behind her.

"What was that all about?" Kitty asked, yawning.

Rogue shook her head and laid down. Man it felt so nice! "Nothing much," she muttered, feeling her blush lessen and decided to change the topic. "_You_ were gone long. Where were you?"

Kitty blushed and sat down on her own bed. "Talking with John," she sighed softly. "He can be so sweet sometimes, ya know?"

"Yeah," Rogue replied absentmindedly as she closed her eyes. "I totally see pink bunnies whenever I see John."

"Rogue, like, stopping listening to my psyche. That was just scary!" Kitty laughed softly before yawning again.

"Sorry. It's late so it can't be helped." She rolled aver in her side and curled up into a ball. "I'm so tired."

"I know! Tell me about it! I just want to go to sleep."

"Me too."

Poor Kitty and Rogue were fast asleep by the night the valet's arrived with their luggage and spent the night in their clothes.

~*~*~*~

**bampf!**

"Good morning, ladies!" Kurt chimed loudly as he stood in the middle of Rogue and Kitty's room, impossibly bright-eyed and bushy tailed, even though it was too early to be that happy. "Wakie! Wakie! Time for breakfast. Don't wanna miss…OH MY DEAR GOD!"

He had turned and caught sight of a very disheveled and very pissed Kitty, sitting up on her bed and glaring daggers at him. It wasn't a pretty sight and he would most likely be scarred for life.

"Kurt!" Kitty yelled. "What the hell?! You totally scared me!"

"Geez, Kitty! Look who's talking!" Kurt replied, jumping back from the zombie. "Logan looks better than you in the morning!"

The girl looked highly insulted. "What?!" she raged, her usual sweet demeanor flying out the window.

"What is the fuck is all the racket?" Rogue groaned as she sat up, looking just as horribly tousled as Kitty. Her multicolored hair was sticking up in all directions, her dark eye make-up was smeared, and her clothes look like...well she had slept in them.

"Eek!" Kurt shrieked shrilly.

"Kurt, what the hell are you doing in here?!" Rogue screamed, throwing her pillow at him. "God, get out of here!"

"Hey! I heard screaming," Sam exclaimed as he rushed through the bedroom door. "What's wrong?"

"No one's hurt," Kitty muttered. "Kurt's being, like, totally stupid."

Sam didn't reply as he just stared at the girl, pallid and anxious. "Dang, Kitty," he said after a moment, "what happened to you?"

"God damn it, both of you get the hell out of here before I knock you out!" Rogue shouted. 

"Gladly!" Kurt replied, grabbing a hold of Sam. "You guys are just plain scary in the morning!"

With another **bampf** both boys disappeared in a cloud of brimstone and peace settled over the room once more. In a blink of an eye, both girls fell back onto their beds and groaned.

"I'm so not really to wake up!" Kitty said.

"Tell me about it."

"What time is it?"

"Probably around 9."

"Rogue, do I really look that awful? Kurt and Sam were really, like, horrified."

Rogue summoned enough effort to aid her miserable friend. Opening her eyes and lifting her head, she looked aver at Kitty and paled. "Damn. If I look as bad as you, I call the shower first."

Kitty frowned and buried herself underneath her blankets. "Now I'm so not ready to face the world," she cried. "I'm, like, ugly!"

Rogue frowned and stood up. "You're not ugly, Kitty. Just…"

"Repulsive! Icky! Gross!"

"Give it a rest, sugar," she muttered, walking across the room to get her bag. "After a quick shower, you'll be okay."

"Better not set foot outside the room until then," Kitty grumbled irritably, hiding herself further into her mound of sheets. "Don't wanna give Xavier a, like, heart attack or anything."

Rogue just rolled her eyes and locked herself inside the bathroom.

~*~*~*~

After the comforts of a long hot shower cooled her temper and soothed her hatred for early mornings, Rogue thought she would be the considerate roommate and wait for Kitty to get done before heading down to breakfast. After waiting for what seemed like an hour, Rogue decided to give up being considerate and banged on the bathroom door.

"Kitty? What are you doing in there? You are dead or something? We're missing breakfast!"

"I'm not going down to breakfast!" A miserable voice shouted from the other side. "I look horrible!"

"Oh man," Rogue hissed softly and slowly sat down on the floor beside the door. "Look, Kitty, you don't look horrible."

"What makes you, like, so confident?! You can't see me. I found a zit on my chin, my hair is like, totally fried, my jeans fit a little too snug today, and I totally know I'm gaining weight. I'm so ugly. I think I'll, like, just stay in here for the rest of the trip. John will never want to date a girl like me!" 

Rogue frowned when she heard Kitty's high voice reduce to heavy sobs.

"Kitty, please don't try, sugar!" Rogue pleaded, feeling both Kitty's sadness and unbelievable anger that made he want to kill Kurt and Sam. "You're just being crazy. Sam and Kurt don't know what they're talking about."

"I think they did, Rogue."

"…Erm, who's in the bathroom?" 

Rogue looked towards the doorway and saw that John was standing there, looking a bit nervous.

"It's Kitty. She's in one of her _moods_ today."

John's brown eyes sparkled with curiosity. "The legendary moods that have been known to scare even Wolvie?"

"Bingo." Rogue consindered just lying back down on her bed and sleeping once more. She sensed a headache coming and Kitty's hysterical voice wasn't helping things. "She won't come out either."

John frowned.

"Rogue, whose, like, out there?" Kitty asked. "Tell them to, like, go away! If it's Kurt or Sam, tell them they are totally dead meat!"

"It's John."

"…Oh…"

"Can I try talking some sense into her, Rogue?"

"Go on ahead." Rogue couldn't be happier. She jumped to her feet and let John take her post at the door as she gathered their suitcases.

"Kitty I'm going downstairs with the suitcases," she shouted. "It's almost time to leave." Rogue quietly left as she watched John and Kitty talk through the bathroom door.

~*~*~*~

"What's wrong with de rogue today?" a voice popped up behind Rogue as she walked down into the foyer, where the rest of the mutants were gathering, prepare to depart once more for the long rode to New Orleans.

Rogue growled and practically threw her bags down. "Boys."

Remy cocked an eyebrow. "How so, chere?"

"They're stupid. I had to spend an entire hour trying to calm Kitty down after Sam and Kurt made her cry." She sighed and wrapped her arms around Remy's waist, burying her face in his trench spice-scented trench coat. "Now I have a headache."

"What did they do?" Remy asked and he ran a hand their her thick mane of hair.

"Barged into our room before we were...uh...presentable. She's still crying in the bathroom when I left. I let John take over for me so I could get my ass down here. Did I miss breakfast?"

"Oui."

"Damn it."

"It's just your luck that I saved you a jelly donut."

Rogue found her first smile of the day as she retrieved the donut wrapped in a napkin from him. "Thanks, Remy."

"Here comes Kitty and John."

"Really?" Rogue looked over her shoulder and smiled when she saw a pouty-faced Kitty descend the steps with the fiery Pyro right next to her. She looked a little worn out wearing a shapeless sweatshirt with her long brown hair hanging around her shoulders. Her glare was almost as good as Rogue's when she shot daggers at Kurt who shuddered and dodged behind Scott. 

"You okay now?" Rogue asked her when the younger girl stood next to her.

Kitty shrugged and glumly looked down at her shoes. 

"You wanna get back at them boys?"

A malicious spark brightened Kitty's face. "How?"

"We got all day to plan," Rogue said. "We'll get 'em good."

"All right, students," Xavier called out from the front of the gathering. "All of our vehicles are ready, please situate yourselves as soon as possible. Our next stop is in Charlotte North Carolina."

Rogue sighed. "Is it bad that I'm already sick of road trips?"

To be continued…

Author's Note: Again sorry for the slow update and I hope you like this chapter. Poor Kitty needs a hug. What do y'all think about Remy's flashback? As more of his past unravels, the more the suspense builds. What will Rogue find in New Orleans? Who was the name of the man Remy killed? What do the girls have in store for Sam and Kurt?


	4. The Problem with Retribution

Rainy Day Road Trip by Melfina Lupin 

**Author's Note: One reviewer (Ishandahalf) brought up an interesting point. If Remy has troubles with his past why the hell is he going back to New Orleans? Well, when I began writing I didn't focus of that point but I will in this chapter so if it sounds like it came out of the blue then it probably did. I'm sorry. **heavy sigh** And Rogue only knows that things she saw in chapter 11 of 'In the Rain'. Nothing much more. She knows some things, more than Remy ever told her, but not the things she finds in New Orleans. Got that? If you are confused, I'm so sorry.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the x-men **

~*~*~*~

Chapter 4

The Problem with Retribution

          Remy didn't sleep well that first night of the road trip. Of course he had been exhausted when he drove through the endless parade of countryside but once he stepped foot inside the damn hotel lobby he was wide-awake and scared to death. Those memories started to surface again, causing wave after wave of cold adrenaline to course through his body, but he didn't want to think about them. They were dark and they were grim, a testament and undeniable proof the Remy Lebeau was bad blood and would always remain so no matter how hard he tried to be good. 

          That night he knew that the trip to New Orleans was a bad idea. He should have gone alone down in the sweltering bayous, should have stole quietly out of the mansion, and dealt with his own demons. Though the lure of Mardi Gras with his girl in his arm did seem awfully tempting at the time. But he was just being stupid then. He didn't need the adults or the other students, or even Rogue, for that matter, to get caught up in the dangerous game that awaited him. But either way, they couldn't turn back and Remy had to get to New Orleans was quick as possible.

          It all started with the alarming call from his friend, now the leader of Remy's guild, Aluin St. Simone, the previous week before. It had been short but a desperate plea for help. The Guild was struggling keeping New Orleans to themselves. The Assassins were more ruthless than ever. Aluin needed Remy's experience and skill to put down the latest war. And Remy promised him that he would. This one last time. That was it.

But damn it all to hell, he should have gone alone, he mentally shouted at himself, seething with worry as he lay in bed. But it was too late now. He would just have to be careful.

          Remy spent most of his night worrying and tossing and turning in his bed. Of course he missed his home and his friends but there was one person in particular that he dreaded meeting. Well he would just have to keep quiet when he was in New Orleans and he would make sure only the Guild knew he was in town. Otherwise, there would be people after him for the kill.

          ~*~*~*~

          "You look like you had a rough night, Remy," Rogue finally commented as they made their way back to the car along with everyone else for another glorious day of traveling. "You're not sick are you?"

          He shook his head, forcing a smile for her sake, and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to his side. "Ain't nothing, chere," he murmured, the warmth of her body chasing his dark thoughts away. "The bed was too soft so I couldn't sleep much."

          A small smile tugged at the corners of Rogue's full lips that took a little bite out of his worry. "Why didn't you camp out on the floor then?"

          "Too hard."

          "Poor, baby," she cooed softly. "Maybe you oughta let Piotr drive today? You look like you're ready to go back to sleep."

          "I already asked. He said he would."

          Rogue laughed and wrapped her arms around his lanky waist. "Great. Now we can snuggle in the backseat and cheer ourselves up."

          "I'm up for snuggling," he teased, leaning down to place a kiss on her forehead, "but don't mind if I fall asleep."

          Rogue gave a light shrug as she shook her head. "Couldn't care less, Remy."

          They happily settled themselves in the big back seat of their car and, buried deep in each others arms, didn't much care for the long wait as the rest of the students and adults found their cars and settled in too.

          "We'll ain't that bloody cute," John replied with a cheeky smile as he looked back at them, climbing into the middle seat with Kitty. "And me without my camera."

          Rogue, quite happy where she was, grinned at the boy but didn't say anything. Instead she just closed her eyes and rested her heard against Remy's chest. His slow steady breathing made her realize that he was already fast asleep. Poor thing.

          They drove through the rest of Virginia for the remainder of the morning. It was one in the afternoon when they decided to stop at a small, rustic shopping center in North Carolina. Limbs stiff and stomachs unhappily empty, Remy and Rogue crawled out of the back seat to stand in a parking lot behind a restaurant with everyone else. Rogue was pleased to see the Remy look a lot better than he did in the morning.

          "Ooh Xavier, like, said that we can look around in the shops after we eat!"   

          And so was Kitty. Rogue turned and flashed a quick smile at the younger girl. She was standing close to John with her long brown hair pulled up once more into a high ponytail. Since it was a lot warmer, she had ditched her heavy sweatshirt and wore a pink shirt. Rogue thought about putting her black jacket in the car too. It really was a great day. The air was warm and the sky high and blue. For a brief moment, a pang of homesickness hit her. She didn't realize how much she missed the South.

          "Ready to go, chere?" Remy asked, a hand squeezing her shoulder gently.

          Her nostalgic reverie broke immediately and she looked up at him, smiling and nodding. They walked hand-in-hand towards the restaurant in the back of the group.

          "Hey, Kitty!" Rogue called out.

          "Yeah?"

          "Meet me after lunch. We have some shopping to do."

          Kitty grinned. "Do you, like, have a plan?"

          "Indeed." 

          Kitty's grin widened before she turned around and continued to walk with John.

          "You do you have in mind, Rogue? I know that smile from a mile away," Remy told her.

          She tugged at his hand. "We're going to get those boys where it hurts the most."

          Remy looked puzzled for a moment. "You gonna kick them in the groin and then run away or something?"

          "No but I can say it'll probably scar them for life."

          "Now I really wanna know what you're up too." Remy smiled, humor brightening his dark eyes.

          Rogue found herself grinning maniacally. "You'll just have to wait and see."

An hour later, their lunch was over and the students started to wonder in different directions, no doubt to shop in one of those cheesy souvenir shops that seem to be everywhere in the shopping center. Rogue waited outside the restaurant for Kitty alone, leaning up against the wooden exterior with her arms crossed. She had told Remy that she and Kitty needed to shop in private so Remy left her alone and went away, sulking.

"Hey, Rogue!" Kitty smiled as she walked through the entrance of the café. "Okay, so, like, tell me your plan! It's it good?"

"I think it is," the other girl replied, straightening and locking her arm around Kitty's. "You got some money on you?"

"Yeah. Why?"

Rogue smiled. "We are going to buy something. We're going to a lot of something," she told her, leading Kitty away from the restaurant and into the big square. Across the green square and in front of the girls was a supermarket. "But we will have to be quick about it. We can't let anyone see us."

Kitty's blue eyes were bright with mischief. "Okay. I'll, like, follow your lead."

Rogue and Kitty walked across the piazza and stepped into the large store. A woman with big curly hair and wearing a bright red apron smiled at the immediately and asked if they were looking for anything in particular. Rogue shook her head and headed further into the store.

"What are we looking for?"

"Hold your horses, sugar," Rogue replied, turning her head from side to side and they walked down the lane, peering into every aisle. "There! We're here to buy those."

Kitty gasped at Rogue pointed to before a high giggle of girlie glee escaped her mouth as she blushed and looked at her friend. "Are you, like, serious?!"

"Of course! Now grab as many as you can!"

Kitty dashed down the aisle. "This is going to be so good!"

~*~*~*~

"Did you think that we should be singing the theme to mission impossible?" Rogue panted as she hurled the last of the bags into the back of the by now laden back of the car.

"Come on, Rogue, we're, like, almost done," Kitty replied, shoving another one into the cramped space. "We can't let anyone see. Did we really need this much?"

"Of course!"

"But we got like 20 packs!"

"Shut up, girl, and keep hulling them in!"

"There's not enough room!"

"Phase them through each other!"

"Ooh! That's a good idea."

"There!" Rogue finally exclaimed as the very last bag was phased into place. "Now pull the door down and close it."

Kitty struggled to do so. "It won't, like, close!" she exclaimed, panicked.

Rogue sighed and added her own body weight to the resisting door.

"Oh, I, like, told you we got too many bags."

"Just keep pushing, Kitty!"

"Ooh, what do we have here?"

Kitty and Rogue gasped and turned around, keeping both bodies pressed against the car. Remy and John were feet away, smirking with hands on their hips.

"What do you guys want?" Rogue asked irritably.

"Nothing much," John replied, smiling an innocent smile of a young boy. "What'cha got there?"

Kitty paled. "Nothing…much," she stammered out.

John cocked an eyebrow. "Really? Then want wrong with the trunk? It looks…fuller."

"Er…"Rogue replied.

"Did you two girls go shopping?" Remy asked.

"No."

"No."

Remy sighed and shook his head. "You don't have to lie about it."

"Where not lying," Rogue lied.

Remy tossed her a wide grin. "Really?" he drawled out.

"Uh-huh."

"I don't believe you. John."

The Aussie nodded and stepped towards the girls.

"Now, John, this is, like, not a good idea!" Kitty told him as he stepped between her and Rogue.

"Sorry, babe," he replied before grabbing the hood and pulling it open. Rogue and Kitty jumped out of the way just in time to see the bags of their shopping mission fall out of the back the car, knocking John down and burying him.

"Ow…" John muttered half-heartedly beneath all the bags.

"You were shopping," Remy laughed as he stepped forward to grab a bag. "Now, what did you get?"

Rogue gulped and looked at Kitty. Kitty bit her lip and looked at Rogue. Both winced when they heard Remy's manly shriek of horror. "Fils de putain! Merde!" he shouted in Cajun before tossing the bag away as if he was burnt badly.

Rogue sighed. "Er…Sorry about that…"

Remy stared at he in disbelief. "I know that my mama never told me what happens to a girl but, damn, do you need so many, chere?!"

"They're not for me or Kitty!" Rogue told him, exasperated. "They are for Sam and Kurt and nothing scares boys more than a girl's period. So we bought 10 bags of pads."

"PADS?!" John screamed before leaping to his feet. Incredulous, he stared down at the countless bags of maxi pads and visibly blanched. "You girls are twisted!" he hissed, quickly backing away from the car. "I think I'm going to be sick."

Kitty rolled her eyes. "Where do you think your, like, going, mister? You totally messed everything up! So it's your responsibly to put all the bags back!"

Both Remy and John looked like deers caught in the headlights. Very sick deers on the verge of fainting.

"But…"John stammered.

"Chere…"

"You two are such babies," Rogue snapped out before grabbing the bags and shoving them back inside the car. "They're just pads! Come on, Kitty. Hurry up before anyone sees."

"Fine." With one last glare in John's direction, Kitty went back to work.

  
          "What is happening?" Piotr asked as he quietly came upon the group. He watched Rogue and Kitty before looking at the immobile Remy and John. "Why are you letting the girls do all the work?"

          "Because they are, like, typical males," Kitty grumbled.

          Piotr looked a little confused. "Pardon me but I did not think a girl would need so many feminine products."

          "They ain't for us, Piotr," Rogue panted from the exertion. "They are for a practical joke against Sam and Kurt."

          This was probably the first time Rogue or Kitty ever heard Piotr laugh. It was deep, soft, and warm. They paused in their work just enough to gape at the giant Russian, not really sure how to take this turn of events.

          "May I help you too then?" Piotr asked. "I heard what Sam and Kurt did and think they deserve whatever you have got planned for them."

          "Er…" was Kitty and Rogue's reply as they watched him swoop the rest of the bags into his arms and shoved them all into the back in one smooth motion. When that was done, he pulled the door down and shut in completely. The others just stared.

          "There," Piotr said, taking a step back and brushing his hands together. "It's done."

          The others continued to stare.

          "Oh my god," Remy whispered.

          "Piotr…he…touched them!" John exclaimed, still very white.

          "What a total softie!" Kitty sighed.

          "What a man!" Rogue breathed, looking just as star-struck.

          The two girls immediately latched onto Piotr's arms and looked at him as if he were a famous movie star.

          "Hey, sugar, wanna go get some ice cream?" Rogue asked.

          "All right," the Russian replied, smiling down at them. "I'll pay."

          Remy and John saw their girls sigh dreamily and head off with their friend. They were too shocked to do anything for a moment.

          "Hey! What are we? Chop liver or something?!" John shouted at them. "Piotr, you son of a bitch!"

          "Man," Remy sighed with a shake of his head as he watched the trio walk off. "Kitty and Rogue were putty in his hands. That ain't right!"

          "Sensitive prick my ass. I like girls and all but you don't see me painting their toenails…"

          "Or picking up their…feminine things," Remy added with a shudder.

          "Well, come on, mate," John said considerably cheerful as he patted his friend's back, "let's be men and buy some whiskey with your fake ID."

          Remy felt better then and he grinned at John. "Sounds like a plan, mon ami. Lead the way."

           ~*~*~*~

          "Chere…"

          "…."

          "Chere!"

          "…."

          "_Chere!_"

          "Give it a rest! When will you get it through your thick skull that I'm not going to talk to you, Remy!"

          "I figured that much, chere. But you can't still be mad at me for this afternoon, can you?!"

          Rogue considered for a brief moment. "Yes," she finally answered before turning her face back to the window and watching the dark landscape fly by.

          Remy sighed and felt like putting his face in his hands and giving up this futile debate. "Come on, chere! You said it yourself! Boys are naturally scared of a girl's…thing. I can't be blamed!"

          Rogue sat at the very end of the seat of the car but Remy was still frozen by her cold shoulder. It was late in the evening and they were still fighting. It exasperated him to no end. Part of him wanted to get mad right back and part of him wanted to shake some sense into his girlfriend while a tiny part of him known that he ought to apologize for being such a guy. But he didn't listen to that back. Like hell he would apologize for his natural instincts! The same argument was carrying on in the seat in front of them only with Kitty in the passenger seat and John sulking by himself.

          "Piotr didn't seem to be bothered by it," Rogue told him coldly.

           "That's because Piotr's a weirdo."

          "No, it's because he's sensitive and you're…just a guy!"

          "And if I am?"

          Rogue gave a heavy sigh and ran her hand through her hair. "Damn it, Remy, sometimes you can be so sweet. And other times you can be so…male! Why don't you just make up your mind for once and stick to one or the other?!"

          "Chere, I'm just being honest with you! A girl on her period is scary! You're weepy one minute and then madder than hell the next."

          "You have no idea what it's like to have a period to just shut your mouth, Remy! It's like there is something inside of you that's eating away at your uterus!"

          Remy flinch as if in dire pain at the U-word while Kitty gave a firm and hearty 'amen' from the front seat.

"But, chere," Remy pleaded, "I've never had one and never will. A girl's period is the unknown to a boy. The final frontier so to speak. It's not my fault that it freaks me out!"

          Rogue glared at him. "What if I need you to rub my back during my period or get my something to drink? Are you just going to run away?"

          "Of course not, chere! I'd do anything for you."

          "Really? Even run to the store if I'm low on pads?" Rogue asked, scooting closer to him.

          "If you really need me too, I guess I would," Remy answered in defeat, even though he still looked slightly uncomfortable with the idea. 

          "You wouldn't faint or run away?"

          "…No."

          She inched even closer.

          "Really?"

          "…Yes, chere."

          Rogue smiled at him. "You _are a softie underneath it all!"_

          Remy didn't even try to gather the pride to defend himself. He just sighed and let Rogue run her hand through his hair.

          "Yeah, just a softie," he murmured, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. "One big unmanly softie."

          "Does that mean you wanna help me and Kitty with the revenge?"

          "What do you have in mind?" he asked, knowing that was a signing his own death warrant.

          "I need you and John to distract Sam and Kurt while we decorate their rooms. They aren't sharing a room so you have to keep them busy for at least a half and hour."

          "Okay. No problem."

          "Thanks, Remy."

          "Don't mention it, chere."

~*~*~*~

"Okay, Kitty, you ready?"

"You bet!"

"Remy got all the boys into a poker game. So we have plenty of time."

"Okay. Let's go. Is the coast clear?"

Rogue peeked out passed the doorway of their hotel room and glanced up and down the long hall. It was late in the night so no one was out. "It's good," she whispered back to Kitty. "Move out."

Wearing tight black clothing with their devious items in a bag on their shoulders, the two girls slipped passed the door and quickly but quietly crawled down the hallway to the stairway. It was easy to get to the floor below where the boys were staying for the night.

"What room is Kurt's?" Rogue asked softly as they crept down the quiet hall.

"104."

"Here it is! Phase your head in and see if Scooter's in there."

Kitty nodded, concentrated for a millisecond before phasing her head through the large burnished door. When she phased it back, she smiled at Rogue and said, "It's empty." 

"Okay. Let's get in there and do some damage!"

Kitty grabbed Rogue's hand and led them both through the door. Once inside the fancy room, they instantly tossed their bags to the floor and threw them open. They filled their hands with pads and unwrapped them quickly.

"Where do we, like, put them?"

"Everywhere where Kurt's things are."

"Got'cha!"

Fifteen minutes later the Kurt's bed, clothing, nightstand, and the shared bathroom was covered in the cotton objects. The girls snickered and quickly escaped the room to find Sam's. The same fate was bestowed unto Rm. 110.

~*~*~*~

Later in the night, those who didn't want to lose anymore called the poker game quits. Remy smirked at his winnings and gave Sam and Kurt and bright 'good night'. They grumbled and left for their rooms. While the girls slept peacefully two horrified shrieks of the utmost terror echoed throughout the fancy hotel in the deep dark night.

~*~*~*~

"Well I feel much more better this morning!" Rogue sighed as she made her way down to breakfast the next morning.

"Me too. I slept really good."

Smirking, the girls walked inside the dinning room. Pale and traumatized, Kurt and Sam glared at them as they took their seats among the group of mutants. Kitty and Rogue smiled at them.

"Have a nice night, boys?" Rogue asked.

Kurt frowned at her. "You are twisted."

"Very twisted," Sam added.

"We just taught you boys a lesson," Kitty told them sweetly. "Never, like, barge into a girl's room without knocking in the morning."

"Believe me, I won't do that ever again!" Kurt exclaimed.

"Me neither!" 

Rogue nodded with approval and started to eat. "Good."

"All right, students," Charles spoke from the head of the table. "In two days we will be in New Orleans. Our next stop is Jackson, Mississippi."

"Man, just 2 days away from the Big Easy," Rogue sighed, turning to smiled at her boyfriend who sat next to her. "Are you getting excited?"

She was surprised to see Remy's grim expression as he started down into his untouched plate.  

"Hey, you okay?" she asked, reaching out to touch his hand.

He quickly withdrew it and stood up. "I gotta pack some things, chere," he told her quickly in a hushed murmur. "I'll see ya later."

Rogue was shocked into silence as she watched Remy stalked out of the dinning hall, the long leather tails on his trench coat floating in his wake.

What's up with him, she asked.

To be continued….

**Author's Note: I had a real life experience with two girls who put pads all over this guy's room. I thought it was funny. I hope you do too! Man, I'm so close to just putting this fic 'on hold' but I'm keep writing since there is so many of your out there like it. I have so many ideas for the story it's just finding the time and the creativity to type it all down. I have a month off for Christmas so I plan to (hopefully) write a lot more. ^____^  Another thing, 60+ reviews for 3 chapters?! Dang! 0_0 thank you all so much for reviewing. I'm glad to like the story!**


	5. The Problem with Returning

Rainy Day Road Trip by Melfina Lupin 

**Author's Note**: I'm so happy that this story is going so well. ^_^ Thank you all who read and reviewed. Your reviews helped me write a lot. I'm keeping the Assassins the Assassins because that name is so much cooler than the Rippers.  I'm not well versed in the guild in the X-men comics' world so I'm changing things to fit this story. If that makes you mad, I'm very sorry. Also there is a small lemon in the chapter. Why? Because that's what happens when Rogue and Remy are left alone. ^__^ I hope you find it tasteful and appropriate. Don't think NC-17. Think R and it's all good. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the X-men

~*~*~*~

Chapter 5

The Problem with Returning

            "Oh my God! Like, just look at it!" Kitty gasped, her forehead pressed against her window as she stared out of it with big blue eyes. "Look at all the lights!"

            "Man, we're miles from the Big Easy!" John continued as he leaned against Kitty to look out the same window. "Watch out, New Orleans, here we come!"

            Rogue smiled from her seat up front, feeling restless excitement boil in her stomach. Despite the long hours on the rode, crappy hotel food, popped tires, crazy antics, the trip to New Orleans all seemed worth it once she saw the glowing lights of the sleepless city as night fell.

"It's beautiful," she murmured, looking sideways to peek on Remy's profile in the corner of her eye. Even though t was getting darker by the second, she could see the harshness of her face and the way he all but gripped the stirring wheel. She frowned, thinking that he looked more like a man on death row then a man returning to his hometown. He had been acting weird ever since Jackson. She didn't know what was wrong but she wanted to. But if she preyed too much Remy would just become surly and defensive.

"Ain't you glad to be home, Remy?" she asked softly while the clowns in back 'ooh'ed and 'ah'ed at the sites.

He shrugged and continued to keep his eyes on the road. "Sure, I'm glad, chere," he replied halfheartedly.

Rogue rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at him with all she had. "Then act like it then."

"You try driving for 8 hours straight and then have enough energy at the end to be happy," he snapped back. "I'm just tired, chere."

She was inches from telling him that she didn't believe him. But she just rolled her eyes again and murmured, "Whatever," before turning and looking out her window.

It was strangely quiet in the car from then on. Kitty, John, and Piotr had noticed the tension between the two lovers and stared them with large eyes.

"Trouble in paradise, mate?" John asked after a moment.

"Shut up," Remy grumbled.

John immediately pressed his lips together and said nothing.

The rest of the ride was as silent as the grave. Rogue didn't even enjoy the ride as they entered Downtown New Orleans and saw all the crowed and decorated streets. They were at the hotel in a matter of minutes. It was a large, beautiful building, streets away from the French Quarter. Rogue sighed in relief and jumped out of the car, breathing in the warm spicy air of spring in the South. Remy and the others followed and Rogue walked with Kitty and John to the group of tired but nonetheless excited mutants who were gathering in the parking lot. She chose to ignore Remy when he came up to stand behind her.

 "All right, students," Ororo spoke up from the front of the group. "We made it here in one piece. I'm faintly surprised. Now Charles, Logan, and I decided that since it's still early in the evening, you may go out and explore the city a bit."

All the students cheered excitingly, beaming and thanking the adults.

"Since tomorrow in Mardi Gras, there are many people so be careful and go in groups," Ororo continued. "And please be back before nine. Get your key and room number from me before you go, students."

"Man, this is fucking awesome!" John exclaimed, smiling as he wrapped his arm around Kitty's slender shoulders. 

"Like, what should we do? We've got like 3 hours to look around," the young girl replied. "Do you want to eat somewhere? Like, all 5 of us?"

"That's a good idea," Piotr told her. "I'll go."

"What about you, Rogue?" Kitty asked.

Rogue sighed and shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure," she muttered, just to make Kitty happy even though she was grumbling inside. "Why not?"

Kitty smiled at her and turned to ask Remy. "Are you, like, coming too?"

Remy shook his head, still ignoring Rogue. "I don't think so, chere."

"What?" Kitty asked, totally shocked. "Why not? It won't be the same without you."

"I'm calling it an early night, that's all," Remy told the group before turning and walking off. "See ya guys tomorrow."

"Man, that's fucking lame," John snapped. "What a party-pooper."

Rogue watched as Remy got his room and key number from Ororo and disappear quickly inside the hotel, face fixed in thought. She bit her lip and wondered for the umpteenth time what was wrong with her boyfriend. She had seen this side of him before but she had always been able to pull him out of it. Why couldn't she this time?

"You know what, Kitty?" she murmured. "I don't think I'll go either. I'm pretty tired myself."

Kitty pouted as she turned to look at her friend. "What? You're, like, not going either? What a bummer!"

"Sorry," Rogue replied, shrugging and walking off. Like Remy and the other students, she got her key and room number from Ororo and headed into the large hotel. Out of all the hotels they had stayed at during the course of the trip this one took the cake. Unfortunately Rogue was too distraught to be amazed at its beauty. She made a beeline for her room and waited for her luggage to be carried up to her.

Once in her room, she groaned in frustration and she flung herself onto one of the beds, sinking into the soft mattress and burying her face in the pillow. Too tense to relax, Rogue's restless mind wondered back to Remy. She knew that he wasn't going to call it an early night. He never went to bed before midnight. What the hell was he up too?

Frowning, Rogue sat up and pulled her knees to her chin, wrapping her arms around her legs and pulling them close. She desperately clung to them. When she closed her eyes she imaged that she was really holding on to her boyfriend. Ever since Jackson, Remy never touched her and kissed her. When she tried to initiate something, he would always pull away.

She was surprised when she noticed that she had started to cry. She was disgusted with herself. It wasn't like her to be so weak. She ought to get to the bottom of this and fast but if she did Remy would just push her way and become defensive. If that happened, we would never tell her anything. He didn't trust her. That was so obvious. But why didn't he after all they had been through? 

"No, that's not true," she told herself. "Remy does trust me. Maybe it's being in the city that has him all weird with the murder and all. But that can't be it. He wouldn't have returned if it wasn't important."

Rogue frowned and pushed her brain to think of a logical answer. Maybe he's thinking about leaving she thought, making her blood run cold. Maybe being in the city has reminded him how much he really likes it here. Maybe he wants to leave the X-men and stay in New Orleans. As illogical as that notion was, Rogue thought that was it. 

"Ooh, I can't stand this!" Rogue groaned, pulling at her hair. "I just want to go to sleep and think this is all a bad dream!"

Inches from becoming a lachrymose ball of lovesick girl, she throw off her clothing and slipped beneath the covers on her bed, dressed in only her panties and bra. She turned off all the lights in the room from a switch by her nightstand. Nestling further down into her gloriously sating covers, Rogue closed her eyes and dwelt in her self-pity. This was not the way she planned to spend her first night in New Orleans.

She didn't even look up when she heard Kitty enter and then leave as quietly as possible once she had freshened up to go out to eat with John and Piotr, thinking that Rogue was sleeping. A little bit later, Rogue heard the door open again. She thought she had dozed off and it was Kitty coming back from her excursion and thought nothing of it. 

When the intruder quietly made its way to her bed and lay down next to her, Rogue knew it wasn't Kitty and felt fear wash over her cold body. She tensed, readying herself to defend herself if the intruder meant to attack. But she stilled automatically once she smelled that apprised spicy cologne and the warmth of the hard body next to her, spooning her. Strong arms wrapped themselves around her figure under the thick comforter. Even though she didn't want to, Rogue sighed and felt her smaller body melt in Remy's familiar embrace.

"I'm sorry, chere," Remy whispered after a moment, his voice low and a bit gruff. She didn't reply but looked into the darkness, biting her lower lip. "I'm just at my wits end so to speak. I need to do some things now that I'm here. Things I thought that I never thought I'd do again. And now I've realized that I shouldn't have dragged you all down her with me.  It was a mistake. It's too dangerous."

"What do you need to do?" Rogue finally asked, her voice cracking painfully in her tight throat. She felt her eyes fill as the tears came and silently rolled down her pale face. "Will you be okay?"

Remy sighed and held her tighter. "Back in Bayville, I got a call from Aluin St. Simone. He's the leader of my guild now. He told me that things with the other gangs were getting bad, especially with on gang in particular, the Assassins. He needed me to get down here and settled a couple of issues with that gang. But I shouldn't have come down here. I can't settle anything. The Assassins want me dead. How the hell can a settle something like that?"

Rogue frowned, feeling more tears come, as she turned around in Remy's arms to look up at him. The pain and confusion she saw in his beautiful eyes ate at her heart. Remy touched a hand to her face gently.

"I made you cry," he whispered, wiping her tears away with his fingertips.

"It's okay," she replied, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tightly. "Why do they want you dead, Remy?"

"Vengeance. They are making of mess of New Orleans and the Thieves Guild can't hold them back for much longer. They will keep it up until they get their vengeance, too."

"So this is the reason you've been acting so…strange lately?"

"Yes," he confessed guiltily. "Can you blame me?"

Rogue shook her head. "I wish you told me earlier. I thought you were going to leave me or something and stay here in New Orleans."

Remy leaned his forehead against Rogue's own. "I'd never do, chere."

Rogue sighed and cupped his face in her hands. "I won't let them hurt you, Remy. What are you going to do?"

She felt him shrug. "I don't know, chere," he replied, his cracking. "It would be best if I just left the city but I can't leave the guild like this. They really need me now. I was thinking about sneaking out and seeing them tonight."

"Take me with you, Remy."

He tensed and then shook his head. "I'm sorry but that's too risky, chere," he explained to her, sighing heavily. "The Assassins are everywhere. I have to move quickly before anyone sees me."

"I'm a mutant. I can take care of myself," she protested. "And there are so many people here. No one will be able to see us. I won't let you go alone."

Remy sighed and looked down at her. "Since I've a feeling that you won't take 'no' for an answer, I'll take you with me. But if anything happens, just get away as fast as you can, okay?"

"Okay. Do you think something will happen?

"Don't know. We'll just be careful," he murmured, running a hand slowly down her face. She tilted her head into the gentle caress, giving Remy an unfettered view of her neck, which he immediately ducked down to kiss. She flinched, his warm lips tickling her sensitive skin, but continued to hold him close.  

"When are we leaving?" she asked him.

"Thought around midnight," he said, pressing his lips close to her ear. "We can sneak out. No one will know where gone."

Rogue hummed softly in reply, to overwhelmed to speak as she felt Remy kiss a line to her mouth. Trembling a little, she let him kiss her breathlessly as his own hunger pour into her body. In an instant she wished that the cover between them was gone. Thinking the same thing, Remy pulled back the silky sheets and crawling inside her warm cocoon, but not before stopping to observe her state of undress and stripping off his trench coat.

"You should sleep like that more often, chere," he teased him, smiling lecherously as his nimble fingertips ran down the middle of her chest to play with the lacy fringe of her bra.

She tried not to blush or be nervous since he had already since her like this before. But she couldn't. Heart pounding a mile a minute, she smacked his hand away. "Come here, Remy," she demurred, flushing warmly as she opened her arms. "I'm cold!"

"All right, chere. Hold your horses," he purred, joining her under the covers and throwing the comforter over them, trapping them in a world of darkness and warmth. 

Rogue giggled as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close and kissing her shoulders and neck. "Remy, wait! Let me turn on the TV or something!" Struggling, she reached out from under the covers and groped around her nightstand until she found the remote control. Pressing any button in her hurry to turn it on, the television in the corner flickered on.

"Ooh! Trading Spaces!"

"Chere!"

Rogue laughed and turned up the volume before throwing the control away and scrambling back under the covers. Remy immediately had her pinned under him, making quick work of unhooking her bra. Closing her eyes, she let him deal with the thing as she settled further in the mattress, enjoying the sound of his labored breathing and feel of his opulent touches.

She cried out softly when he stripped her bra away and nuzzled her breasts, kissing one fervently while his free hand massaged the other. Arching her back at the touch, Rogue's hand frantically went to the hem of Remy's shirt and tugged at it, wanting to feel his naked skin against her own. He pulled away just long enough to pull his shirt and pants off before returning to her body to ravish her. She moaned, wrapped her legs around his waist and running her hand through his long auburn tresses to his back, fingertips gliding over the warm, slick flesh. 

When he was moved away, her breasts felt heavy and delightfully swollen. He started to nip his away down passed her belly to the hem of her underwear. She blushed as her removed it, kissing and nuzzling her legs and he pulled them down. Warm silk against her naked, sticky skin was a strange feeling but not unwanted. It was very liberating to make love on silk sheets, very romantic too. She sighed, lifting her arms above her head and stretching, trying to feel move of the silk. Remy sat back on his legs, smiling down at her. She blushed and smiled back at him.

"You're beautiful, chere," he purred, his voice husky as he leaned down to kiss her mouth. She moaned silently and pulled him down until he was nestled between her legs above her. He had taken the opportunity to strip off the remaining articles of clothing and was just as naked as she. Heat boiled in her stomach when she felt him rub against her intimately and she arched up against him.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. His hand wondered from her neck, over her breast, to rest against her tight, kneading the flesh. In one swift moment, he pushed gently into her and was buried deep inside her. He waited a few moments, letting her adjust to his invasion. She whimpered into the kiss when he pulled out only to thrust into her again.

Hidden from view under the covers, they found a rhythm that left them both breathless and impassioned. As hungry kissed were given and taken, hips rocked, and soft cried of pleasure filled the dark room, Rogue inevitably found the peak of her passion and cried out as pleasure washed over her, weakening and tensing her body at the same time. Above, she felt Remy shudder as he followed her and held onto him tight until her ecstasy passed. 

She was panting and hot when it was over. She laughed breathlessly, seeing Remy's face buried in the side of her neck and she threw her arms around his neck, nuzzling his hair with her nose. She kissed his forehead.

"I love you," she whispered to him, running her hands up and down his spine.

"I love you too," he replied, finally looking up at her and smiling. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers sincerely. 

They settled down onto the bed, lying on the sticky sheets for a few more moments until it was time for Remy to go. Wanting nothing more to be with Rogue, he sighed as he sat up on the bed, running a hand through his tousled hair. 

"I better go before Kitty comes back," he grumbled.

Rogue groaned and sat up, wrapping her arms around him from behind. She kissed his shoulder. "Okay," she sighed.

"I'll get you around midnight. You think Kitty will be asleep then?"

"Probably. If not, I'll just say you and I are sneaking out to do something romantic. She won't tell the adults."

"Okay. I'll knock on the door when it's time," Remy said, pulling on his clothes.

Rogue nodded and laid back down, watching her boyfriend. When he was done, he leaned down and kissed her. "I'll see you in a couple of hours, chere."

She smiled at him and watched him walk out of the room before sitting up again and walking into the bathroom to take a shower.

~*~*~*~

Rogue had dressed in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and was sitting on the ground, back against her bed, as she watched the television. Kitty was lying on her bed, flipping through a magazine. It was a quarter to midnight.

"Are you going to sleep, Rogue?" Kitty asked after a moment.

"Nah. I'm sneaking out with Remy actually," she replied, smiling nervously at her friend. "He wants to do something romantic."

"Really? That's so, like, cute! So I'm guessing Remy, like, got over whatever was pissing him off?"

"Yeah." Rouge felt herself blush and she quickly looked away.

"Oh God," Kitty groaned. "You and Remy alone. Let me guess what happened."

"Please don't," Rogue begged.

"Where you guys do it?!"

"Er…his room," Rogue lied.

"Oh, good. It would be totally weird if you did it in here! I'm sneaking out with John too."

"Really? When?"

"Around one. We're, like, going to a club down the street."

Rogue grinned at her friend. "Have fun."

"I will."

A faint knock on the door interrupted the conversation as both girls looked up. Rogue sighed and stood up, pulling on her boots. "That'll be Remy."

"Oh la la! Don't stay out too late, Rogue."

Rogue glared at her roommate before walking out of the room, quietly closing the door behind me. Remy was standing in the shadows in the hallway. She almost missed him. When he reached out to grab her arm, she jumped a good foot.

Smiling apologetically, he grabbed her hand with his and led her down the hallway without a word. They took the stairs down to the main floor and walked out of the main lobby into the night air with no one catching them. Out in the street, Rogue breathed in the cool spicy air of the city. Remy didn't stop and guided her down the street, their voyage shrouded in shadows.

"Remy, where are we going?"

"A meeting place."

They moved quickly and quietly through the streets, dodging from alleyway to shady alleyway. For the most part, people ignored them. There were a lot of drunken weirdoes out that night. No one stuck out. After a while, the loud city faded away and Rogue found herself in a darker part of New Orleans. No longer were they protected by the warm glow of city lights, now that only had a full moon. Gone where the locked buildings, bedecked with iron galleries and a large aboveground cemetery lay before them, surrounded in thick, curling fog.

Rogue felt herself pale and she struggled to gulp down her rising fear. "A cemetery, Remy?"

"Not superstitious are you, chere?"

"I believe in ghost, if that's what you mean."

"I do too. Damn, couldn't Aluin have picked a better spot?" he murmured, shaking his head. "This place gives me the creeps."

"Wait! You're meeting in there?!"

"Oui."

            "Oh, man," she hissed, holding on tightly to Remy's hand. 

            "My thoughts actually. Well, let's go, chere."

            Rogue took a deep breath. "I'm scared."

            "Me, too."

            Hesitantly, the couple walked through the large stone gateway and into the dark graveyard. Thick white fog twisted in and out of the large aboveground tombs and creepy statues of weeping angels and morose women. But in the darkness, even though they were no doubt very beautiful in the daylight, the sculptures looked like malicious demons in the moonlight. Rogue shuddered and moved closer to Remy. They moved deeper into the graveyard as the darkness and the fog closed in on them. It was dead quiet, the silence only disturbed by the soft treading of their feet.

            "We're almost there, chere," Remy whispered suddenly.

            "How can you tell? It feels like I'm walking is circles," Rogue replied.

            After they walk a couple more yards, they stopped by a statue of a heavenly seraph when a tall shadow moved behind it. Remy automatically reached for a card in his back pocket.

            "Who's there?" he demanded.

            The shadow stepped forward. "It's me, mon ami," a deep voice replied. "Aluin."

            Remy sighed and quickly replaced the card. "Nice place to throw a welcoming party," he quipped without a trace of humor.

            "I thought so. Who's that with you?"

            Remy turned to look at her. "This be Rogue," he said. "She's my girlfriend."

            Aluin nodded but said nothing. "It's good to see you, Remy."

            "You, too. Did you come alone?"

            "No," a new voice, female this time, spoke up. Another shadow moved behind the statue and stood beside Aluin.  "It's too dangerous to be alone at these times."

            Remy looked to the other figure. "Nicolette?"

            "Oui."

            "Are we just going to stand around here and chat?"

            "We've got an empty tomb up ahead where we can go," the girl replied. "Follow me. It's not far."

            Her and Aluin turned and walked off and Remy followed, pulling Rogue with him. It wasn't long before they came upon the mausoleum and quietly snuck in like regular looters. Inside, the old tomb was pretty big with a stone coffin and bench. There were a couple of candles scattered about as well as another person who hung quietly in the shadows. 

In the dim light, Rogue could see that Aluin was a tall, lanky man with mocha colored skin and long black hair. Nicolette was a young girl, around Rogue's age with an elfin face and short brown hair. They were both dressed in baggy street clothes and trench coats. The third person was an older man, mid-thirties with a long scar running down the side of his face. They didn't look the friendly type either.

            Aluin stood by the coffin, arms crossed, while Nicolette sat down on the bench. Remy gestured for Rogue to take a seat next to the girl and she did as Remy moved to stand alongside Aluin.

            "I'm guessing you appointed Nicole to be your second hand?" Remy questioned. 

            "Oui. She's very capable."

            The youthful girl lifted her head and smiled at Remy.

            "Thank you for coming, mon ami," Aluin said, resting a large hand on Remy's shoulder. "I know it's difficult and you probably think I'm failing as a leader but I can't hold back the assassins anymore."

            "I appointed you because I thought you could," Remy snapped back. 

            "It's not Aluin's fault!" Nicolette spoke up, her voice rising with her anger. "The assassins suddenly got all restless and bloodthirsty. We need to strike them hard and fast where it hurts them most. Remy, even though they are after you, we're not planning to hand you over to them. You're a strategic genius. We need your help to help us end the war once and for all."

            Remy was silent for a moment and Rogue watched as Aluin leaned in to murmur something into his ear. Remy shook his head and muttered, "I need her here. She knows what's going on and can take care of herself."

            Rogue looked away, figuring out that they were talking about her. Obviously Aluin didn't like her being there.

            "What has the Assassins been up too as of late?"

            Aluin sighed and replied, "They've killed several of the Thieves Guild members already. They demand to see you. I've told them that you were dead but they didn't believe me. They say that they won't stop until they have you. That's not possible and I fear that a full out war will develop. We have to stop them."

            "Don't worry. We'll think of something."

            "Remy," Nicolette said, "it's your…I mean, you know as well as I do, who exactly wants your head." 

            Remy nodded and paled. 

            "Listen, things were pretty quiet before she came back. When she did, she took hold of the Assassins and started this whole campaign to find you. If you take her out…"

            "We'll think of something," Remy repeated, sharper this time. 

            Nicolette sighed heavily and looked away. "Whatever you come up with, it won't stop her. The assassins need to be whipped and whipped good and she needs to die. She's completely off her rocker and will stop at nothing until she gets you. You have to kill her. It's the only way. Only you can do it."

            Remy ran a hand over his face and hissed. "Damn, I need a drink. When do we need to act?"

            "Before someone else is killed," Aluin replied. "If you approve, the guild is equipped with guns and will act on my command."

            "I don't want a bloodbath, Aluin. I'll go see her. Maybe I can talk her out of wanting to kill me or something."

            "I don't think that will work," Aluin said. 

            Remy shrugged. "Fine. I'll think of something. Just wait. We'll talk tomorrow, all right?"

            Aluin frowned. "All right. Does anyone know you're here?"

            "No. Just Rogue. No one followed me either."

            "Okay. Hang low now that you're here. The assassins are everywhere. If they catch a glimpse of you, they won't hesitate to tell Belle and come after you, no matter what the cost."

            Remy nodded and moved over to stand besides Rogue. "I know that," he told Aluin. "I'll be careful. We'll talk tomorrow."

            The black man nodded without word and Rogue stood up and followed Remy out of the tomb.

            "Man, that was something out the Godfather," Rogue muttered, running her hands up and down her chilled arms.

            "Except were Cajun and not Italian," Remy laughed softly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and leading her away. 

            She looked up at him, confused. "You seem pretty all right for having someone out to kill you. You okay?"

            "Nothing unusual about someone wanting to Kill Remy unfortunately, chere."

            "Why is she after you?" she asked, not wholly excepting Remy to give her the truth. 

Remy frowned and he didn't talk for a while. "The man I killed," he murmured, "he was her brother. Now she wants revenge."  

            Rogue gasped silently, feeling the cold hand of shock grab hold of her heart. "Who is she?"

            "Belladonna is my wife."

            To be continued!

**Author's Note: Ooh I love this chapter (even without the lemon)! It's so suspenseful! And the truth is finally out. How will Rogue react? I wasn't planning on having Remy tell Rogue about Belle but that seemed a better time and waiting until Belle told Rogue at the end. I really hope you liked this chapter!  What a horrible cliffhanger! **


	6. The Problem with Memories

Rainy Day Road Trip by Melfina Lupin 

**Author's note**: thanks to all who read and reviewed. I love you all. I've begun to realize more and more how cliché it was to bring Belladonna into this fic but I did it anyway. But I hope my plot is original from this point on. **ATTENTION: I'm making Julien Belle's **stepbrother** now to make things less weird in this story. Sorry in advance for the confusion!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the X-men. But I do own the 1st season of X-men evolution and a couple of Romy fics. The secondary title to this chapter sort of belongs to Arthur Golden who wrote 'Memoirs of a Geisha'. The song is called 'When you say you love me' by Josh Groban. I highly recommend you find a way to listen to him. He has a great voice!**

~*~*~*~

Chapter 6 

The Problem with Memories

(Memoirs of a Cajun)

            "Belladonna is my wife," Remy announced.

            At first Rogue didn't react. It took a while for her to process that unexpected information. She just blinked at first and felt her brow twist in confusion before the fear and anger settled in.

            "What?" she questioned, her voice blank and a little dazed.

            Remy looked down to the damp ground, biting his lower lip. "She's my wife, Rogue," he repeated. He was quiet about it as if that would soften the severity of the blow. 

            A look of garbled emotions crossed Rogue face as she took a badly needed step backwards, the full extent of his message finally hitting her square in the face. 

He's married?! Her mind was screaming, reeling in a violent storm of confusion. What the hell? The shock consumed her, making it hard to breathe. Her body felt cold and shaky and her heart pounded, forcing icy blood throughout her veins. She thought to cry but for a moment the shock was too much and she just stood that, staring at him, her brain a befuddled lump of mush.

"How?" she gasped out in a voice made buoyant by bafflement. "Why?"

            "We were married right after my 16 birthday," Remy told her. "I want to say that I didn't love her but I did, Rogue. She was the daughter of the leader of the Assassins and, despite the fact that our gangs were at constant war with each other, we met when we were young and feel in love. I proposed to her so we could have a life together and end the warfare. But on our wedding day, I killed her bother, making matters between the Thieves and the Assassins worse, and then I got mixed up with Magneto who took me out of New Orleans before anyone could arrest or kill me."

            Rogue didn't say anything when Remy was talking. Even the few moments to collect herself, she blinked and turned to glare at him. She took a determined step forward, clutching her first in a tight ball. She caught him by surprise when she rammed it into the side of his face. Even though she was a pretty powerful mutant, the blow still stung something bad and Rogue cried out in pain, jumping back and holding her bruised hand. Meanwhile, Remy just flinched and held the side of his jaw.

            "I deserve that."

            "You deserve a hard kick in the ass, Remy!" Rogue shouted, quickly moving forward to push him. She didn't mean for him to fall backwards onto the ground but unfortunately when she got mad she got strong. She lost her balance when he fell and landed on top of him, knocking the breath out of herself. 

             "Married?" Rogue spat out, raging as she repeatedly clouting him in the chest with her fists. "You're married?" Smack. "Why the hell didn't you tell me?!" Smack. "I ain't particularly open to polygamy!" Smack. Smack. Smack.

            "Ouch, chere! Stop it, all right? This ain't a great place to fight!"

            "Does it look like I care?"

            "Let's go to a café and talk things over!"

            "Hell no! I ain't going anywhere with you! It began here and it will end here, Remy!"

            Sighing, Remy grabbed a hold of her wrists and held the small weapons at bay. Even though Rogue was stronger than the average female, he had a good 100 pounds on her. He sat up without much effort and looked straight into her pale face.

            "We're going to be adults about this and talk," he told her plainly. "Not play of game of beat-the-crap-outta-the-Cajun."

            "Screw you," the beautiful southern retorted. Her savage glare could have seen Wolverine running for the hills. "I'm not going with you."

            "Yes, you are." In a blink of an eye, Remy was on his feet and walking toward the cemetery exit, hurling the unwilling Rogue behind him. She growled and tried to pull away but the more she struggled, the tighter he held on. No one paid them any mind as they marched through the laden streets of the French Quarter and soon Remy was pulling her inside a small café that was still open and still lively as ever.

            "Sit down and shut up," Remy commanded, all but pushing her down into the hard seat in a darkened corner. He took the other sit across from her, leaving a small table between them. Remy still held her wrist in his hand so there was no chance of escape. 

            Rogue was seething as she scowled at him. 

            "This a bad time to ask y'all what you want?" 

            Remy looked up to see a lovely woman with dark hair standing by him. She was wearing a black and pink waitress' uniform and a pad of paper in her hand. When she saw him, the woman blinked for a moment before a wide angelic smile brightened her face.

            "Well look what the cat dragged in! It's Remy Lebeau! I didn't even recognize you. When the hell did you get in town?"

            He forced a sincere smile. "Tonight," he told her. "I didn't know you worked her, Leis."

            "For a couple of months now. You made it just in time for Mardi Gras. Damn, you look worn through and through," she remarked, noticing the pretty little bruised decorating his jaw. "Have you talk to your papa? Does he know you're here?" she asked.

            Remy shook his head and ignored the murderous look Rogue's was shooting his way. "Nah. Thought about seeing him tomorrow."

            "He's gonna have your hide for coming back. Er…you upset the young lady or something?" She shot a careful glance to the pretty thing on the other side of the table. "She looks like she's about to kill you." She didn't fail to notice the girl's swelling hand that she was trying to hide in her lap. The waitress put two and two together and couldn't help but grin a little. 

            "They're always trying to, Leis," Remy replied. "Could you grab us a couple of cokes?"

            "Cokes? Sure thing. It'll be on the house. I'm bring some ice out too," she replied, before retreating a safe distance.

            Remy sighed and glanced over at Rogue, more than a little fearful. "What, chere?"

            She arched an eyebrow and snapped in a nasty voice, "She another one of your girlfriends or something?"

            "Damn, girl! Leis is my cousin!"

            "…Oh." Glare.

            Leis returned and placed the drinks and a cloth full of ice before them. "If you want anything to eat, just tell me, all right? Cook's made his special black pepper and shrimp gumbo tonight. It's mighty taste-y if you want my opinion."

            "Thanks but we'll hold for now." When she was gone, Remy grabbed his 'coke' and took a mighty gulp of in, inviting the familiar flavor of bourbon as it hit the back of his throat and burned a hole in his empty stomach. Rogue didn't touch her drink.  

            "Chere, listen," Remy began speaking softly as he sat his glass back down, "I fouled up in the cemetery. Me and Belle, we're not married anymore. When I killed Belle's **step**-brother, the marriage was end."

            "I don't fucking care about that!" Rogue hissed, keeping her voice low but still as malicious as ever. "I'm pissed off that you didn't tell me! We're you just going to keep it in the dark or something? Remy you told me that you never loved anyone else!"

            "I'm know, chere. I was just protecting you and myself. Now let me see your hand. You banged it up pretty badly."

            When he reached for her other hand, Rogue jerked away. "Don't touch me," she spat out. "Leave me alone!" 

            "Don't be stupid, chere! Give me your hand. It's hurting you."

            Still objecting under her breath, she forked over her wounded hand and winced when Remy gently pressed the ice against the swollen and discolored flesh.

            "If it makes you feel any better," he mumbled as he worked, "you got a wicked right hook."

"It feels like I broke it into a thousand pieces," she admitted, hissing violently when the ice made contact with a particularly tender spot. "Damn it, Remy! Watch what you're doing! It hurts like hell!"

            "Sorry, chere," he replied, trying to be more gentle this time.

"Remy, how many more secrets ya got honestly?" Rogue asked him after a moment, exasperation pouring out of her bright green eyes. "Every time I turn around I find something new about you! Why didn't you tell me everything from the beginning when you told me about the murder? I could have been more understanding but now I'm sleeping with a married man who was never going to tell me he was married at all! Remy, you're such a…moron!" 

            He looked up over at her, hiding his smirk. She could have called him a dozen other colorful names. "Do you honestly think that we could have had something if I told you all my dark secrets, chere?"

            "Yes! Believe it or now, I would have appreciated your honesty. God damn it, we're a couple and, as cheesy as it sounds, most relationships are built on honesty and trust, not just love alone. It we don't have either, what the hell are we building out relationship on?"

            Remy was about to make a joke when Rogue sent him a chilling glare. 

            "I love you, chere," he told her. "I'm sorry I lied to you and was too stupid to trust you enough to tell you anything."

"Stupid is right," she muttered under her breath. "You said you loved Belle. Do you still love her now?"

Remy shook his head. "No. She went from the girl next door to the psycho down the street in a blink of an eye. She wasn't the girl I thought she was," he replied. 

"What happened, Remy?"

~*~*~*~

Remy was grinning from ear to ear was he waited in the large vestibule of the grand St. Louis Cathedral, still decked out his in formal pale gray tuxedo. Around him, Lebeaus and Bordeauxs, Thieves and Assassins, had gathered, chatting about how beautiful the wedding had been and how proud they were that little thief had finally married Belle and congratulating him. Even some of the Assassins stepped forward with smiles to welcome him into their part of the family.

This was the happiest day of his life!

A pounding slap on his shoulder brought the youth out of his daydreaming and almost through a wall. He quickly looked up and saw that it was his father, beaming down at him.

"Damn, papa, what'cha trying to do? Break my shoulder or something?" Remy quipped.

The patriarchal Jean Luc Lebeau just rolled his gray eyes at his son. "Cut the crap, Remy. I just want to say how proud I am of you. You really did right by marrying Belle."

Remy smirked and clasped his papa's hand briefly. "Don't get all sobby on me. The Assassin will think you've gone senile."

Even though the two rivaling gangs were now family, it would take some time getting us to that notion. The younger generation of the gangs were tense and a little uneasy while the progenitors of the two families, Marius and Jean Luc, were ready to call the endless war to an end. To long they had been fighting.

"We're heading over to the reception with Lapin and Marius."

"D'accord," Remy answered. "I'm gonna go collect my blushing bride." (okay)

"Want Henri to stick around and wait with you?"

"Nah. I'm good. Go and get drunk for me. We'll be there soon, papa."

"All right. A bientôt." (see you soon)

Remy watched his father leave the church with his cousin, brother, and father-in-law, then turned and hurried down the hallway towards the room Belle was in. He paused before the dark mahogany door and frowning, hearing the maddening frenzy of ecstatic females in there, fussing over his wife and making Remy shudder. Well, so much for a little private time before the reception. 

He sighed and knocked firmly.

"Qui est-ce?" one of Belle's cousins called. (Who is it?)

"Ouvrir le porte. C'est Remy." (Open the door. It's Remy)

Several of the ladies giggled and he carefully pushed the heavy door open and stuck his head inside. There she was. Amidst all the flowers and the flock of feminine figures was his tall, slender, beautiful wife. **His** woman. He loved the sound of that, living his slightly breathless.

For from being ready to go, Belle was pushing her wild mane of golden curls off her forehead and smiled at him, apologetically, while her multiple cousins in pale green dresses crowded around her. Her veil and diamond tiara were lying on a nearby table while the thin straps of her gorgeous white grown hung low on her shoulders. Remy could tell the back was unzipped.

"Mon Dieu, don't tell me your changing!"

Belle laughed prettily, her cheeks turning pink with embarrassment. "Don't worry, cher," she told him. "I'm going to change at the reception. I came back here to ditch these high heels and put on some sneakers but I tripped and ripped the zipper."

"Is it bad?"

"Nothing a safety pin won't solve. I'll be fixed in a minute."

"Nah, you're good to go now," Belle's cousin, Claudia, announced as she carefully zipped up the back of Belle's large wedding dress. "It doesn't even look like you ripped it at all."

"Merci," Belle replied, looking at the handiwork in a full-length mirror. "All right, girls, you head to the reception. I'll be there in a minute."

"You're not coming with us?"

"No way!" she laughed. "It's my wedding day and I've barely had any time with my handsome husband. Soot on out of here so I have give him a proper kiss."

The other girls blushed and quickly left the room, throwing smiles in Remy's direction. When they were all out, he jumped inside and quickly closed the door. He turned around and watched as Belle ran over to him, throwing her pale naked arms around his neck.

"Le meri et la femme," she purred, settling her head against his chest. "I can't believe it. I'm so happy." (husband and wife)

"Me, too," Remy replied, burying his face in her waterfall of golden locks. 

"I wanted to wear my hair down since I know you like it that way, but my aunt thought that would be too casual for a wedding," she told him. "So I was stuck with a god heavy tiara and a veil that blinded me throughout my wedding."

Remy grinning at the woman in his arms and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "You looked beautiful, mon amour. Like a fairly princess."

"You don't look to bad yourself," she replied, blushing. "You're brother did a good job picking out this tux. I almost didn't recognize you, all cleaned up and everything. I love you, Remy."

He held her closer. "Love you, Belladonna Lebeau." He loved seeing the warmth flood his wife's beautiful face before he lifted her chin and kissed her soundly on her pink lips.

She was so sweet and soft as he held her. He was glad that he had such a beautiful, precious girl to share his life with. Her demeanor soothed his heart and calmed his wild side like something he had seen.

When the long, honeyed kiss ended, he grinned down at her and stroked her petal soft cheeks. "Allons-y, chere," he murmured (let's go). "Let's head to our reception before people start the party without us." 

Holding her hand, Remy led out of the room. There was a limousine waiting outside in the dying light of day for them that would take them to the hotel where the reception was held in the grand ballroom.

"We in the right place?" Remy murmured as they paused in the doorway into the ballroom in shock.

"Er…I think so," Belle replied, her voice a little strained.

"Looks more like a forest."

"Or a rainbow."

Remy couldn't help but laugh at the horrendously garish decorations. Uncountable tables were set up around the ballroom, leaving a spot for dancing and place where the groom and bride would sit in honorary seats. Color was absolutely everywhere and so where thousands of romantic flowers like roses and lilies. Their scent was a little overpowering. But Remy guessed that once he was properly drunk, then he could deal with the gaudy adornments. 

"What happened to keeping it simple and pretty?" Belle asked. "The colors alone could stop a blind man in his tracks."

"Who decorated?"

"Aunt Cécile obviously."

"Oh man, she's here?!" Remy asked, quickly scanning the room for any sign of that ungodly woman.

Belle nodded, looking terrified. "Oui."

"You see that foul stepbrother of yours anywhere?"

Belle shook her head. "No," she replied, looking very relieved. "He probably won't show."

"Good. Well, love, let's get in there and get it over."

"I think I need a drink."

"You don't drink, Belle."

"I will after tonight!"

Remy smiled and tugged at Belle's hand. Each forcing a paper-thin smile, they walk into the large room and was immediately bombarded with the thunderous sound of clapping as relatives turned and applauded the entry of the newlyweds. It took forever to get to their seats because literally everyone and their mother was stopping to greet and congratulate them again with pats, hugs, and smiles. Remy tried not to jump when Belle's older female family members pulled him into a bear hug, almost suffocating him with their large bosoms and groping his behind.

"Jesus, your aunts are frisky," Remy murmured as they flopped down in their seats, thoroughly exhausted by the walk.

Belle laughed and patted his shoulder. "That's nothing compared to the Lebeau men. You brother almost stuff 20 bucks down my bodice."

"What a bastard. I would have expected at least a fifty."

Soon the reception was underway. The band started to play waltzes, the bar opened, the food was set out, and people chatted, danced, drank, and ate in happiness and peace. Belle threw her lovely bouquet of white lilies, which was caught by a blushing young girl, and Remy pulled Belle's lacy garter off and tossed it into a crowd of rambunctious men. In the middle of it all, Jean Luc stood up by his son and delivered a very heartfelt speech about loyalty, love, children, peace, blah, blah blah. There wasn't a dry eye in the house by the end of it except for Remy. He had been snickering through the whole thing. It wasn't everyday you see a man like his papa talk about those kinds of things.  While everyone applauded at the end, Jean Luc let Remy know how he liked his son's behavior by hitting Remy hard on the shoulder before returning to his seat, which only made Remy laugh harder.

Finally it came time for the newlyweds to have their little dance in front of everyone. Remy laughed and stood up under the glare of a spotlight, hulling the mortified Belle to her feet as well. She was all but hiding behind him as they walked to the empty dance floor as the soft melody of their song played in the background.

"I'm gonna trip and fall, cher," Belle whispered to him, more than a little scared.. 

He turned around and placed a hand on her waist while his other hand held her right hand. Belle was gnawing her lower lip as she placed her left arm around Remy's shoulder.

"You'll do fine, Belle," he told her, kissing her forehead. "We've dance hundreds of times before. Nothing to it."

"You not the one dancing with a circus tent tied to your waist!"

"Just forgot them all. Focus on us. We're the only ones out here. It's like our own little universe."

"Okay," Belle whispered. "Let's dance, Remy."

You say those words, my heart stops beating

I wonder what it means

What could it be that comes over me

At times I can't move

At times I can't hardly breathe

As the slow, romantic song played out, Remy pulled Belle closer. Almost one, they swayed to the music, lost in each other's arms. 

When you say you love me

The world goes still, so still inside and

When you say you love me

For a moment, there's no one else alive

"This is such a beautiful song," Belle sighed.

Remy smiled. "I love you, chere."

"I love you too."

"I can't wait until we buy our own house," he told her.

"Yes. We'll buy a grand ol' house, fix it up, and it'll be our castle."

"We'll have kids of our own kids." 

"We'll have a boy and he'll look just like his papa…"

"Without the demon eyes hopefully."

"You're eyes are beautiful, cher."

"I'm really looking forward to our first real fight."

Belle laughed, shaking her head. "We'll fight, yes, but we won't stay mad for long. We will always come back to each other."

"And we will have lots of sex, too. I can't wait."

"Me neithor."

And this journey that we're on

How far we've come and I

Celebrate every moment

When you say you love me

That's all you have to say

I'll always feel this way

When you say you love me

The world goes still, so still inside and

For a moment, there's no one else alive

When you say you love me

Do you know how I love you

It was a little passed midnight and the reception was still in full swing. Belle leaned over to whisper in Remy's ear, "If I want to breathe again I better change now."

He perked up instantly. "Need any help?"

She smirked. "Looking to give any, sugar?"

"Absolutely."

"I'll go back first then you follow after a couple of minutes," she told him. "That way, we won't rise any suspicion and have the older ladies box our ears."

"D'accord, lovely. See ya in a few." 

"It's room 23."

She winked at him before rising and walking away. Remy watched her disappear beyond the entrance of the ballroom. After a few excruciatingly slow minutes, he, too, stood up and strolled out of the hall, saying that he was going to get some fresh air. Out in the lobby, he all but ran up the staircase to Belle's isolated boudoir. He didn't bother knocking, knowing that she was probably waiting for him, and walked right in. What he saw made him see red and snap.

Belle's stepbrother had finally showed. Obviously drunk, Julien was holding Belle from behind. With one hand he was ripping her dress off her body and with the other her was covering her mouth so she couldn't scream. Julien obviously had not heard Remy's entrance but Belle saw and stared at him with her large blue eyes full of fear and helplessness. She tried to reach out for him.

"Get of her!" Remy raged, charging towards them. He ripped Julien off Belle, who fell to the ground in a pillow of white satin, sobbing and hiding her bruised face. "Fucking bastard!" He threw Julien to the ground and savagely kicked him. 

"Remy!" Belle screamed. "Stop it!"

He didn't hear her. Over and over he kicked the drunken Julien before grabbing him by the collar and hulling him out of the room, down the hallway to the lobby, outside to a darkened alleyway. The noise they made caught people's attention and they quickly followed them into the night. 

"How could you do that to Belle?" Remy shouted, anger boiling in his stomach as he felt sick over his step-brother-in-law's twisted antic. "She's your fucking sister!"

He threw Julien against the wall when the older man just smiled.

"Come on, Remy," he taunted, shoving his fist into Remy's stomach. "Let's fight."

"Remy?" It was Jean Luc. "What's the matter? What's happened?"

A little winded, he pointed an accusing finger at Julien. "I found him trying to rape Belle in her room!"

The onlookers gasped and Jean Luc as well as Marius tried to get the ladies back inside where it was safe. Henri meanwhile tried to stop Remy from turning Julien into a bloody pulp but Remy wouldn't listen. The two brawled in the alleyway and it finally ended a few minutes later when Remy pulled out Henri's switchblade his brother always kept with him and plunged it into the tender flesh of Julien's throat.

Julien stiffed in shock, staring at Remy with large eyes. Remy frowned and pulled the knife free only to slam it into his stomach. He would have stabbed him again had it not been for his father who pulled him away from the bleeding body. Julien fell to the ground, coughing up blood and gasping for air.

"Remy, arrêt!"

"Stop? Why? I'm not finished yet!" He struggled to get free of his father but he couldn't.

"He's already dead!" Jean Luc told him.

Shocked, Remy stilled and gapped down at the body. Julien was cold and dead on the dirty alleyway floor.

"Bastard!" Remy cried out, tearing filling his eyes. "He deserves death!"

"Quiet, mon fils," his father whispered. "Let's…"

Before he could finished long blood curling screeched filled the air. Remy turned and saw Belle breaking through the tight circle of men, her hair and dress flying wildly behind her. 

"Belle," Remy began.

She turned on him. "Murderer!" she screamed. "You killed him! You killed my brother!"

He was in shock. Surely Belle would not try to defend Julien after what he tried to do to her! Speechless, she saw her fall on her knees and clung to her bother's body, his blood staining her white dress as she sobbed. 

"Oh, god, why?" she wailed, trembling. 

Remy was in total shock. He had never seen that side of her before. She was usually so very sweet. Right then he realized that it had been a bad idea to marry her. To a girl like that, her family was everything to her. He was crazy to ever believe that she could put her family second place to their love.

Suddenly, Belle jumped up and turned around, her blue eyes blazing with fury. "I'll kill you!" she screamed, bending down to grab the gory knife Remy had dropped. The red blood ran through her slender fingers, coating her pale hand. "I'll kill you!"

She ran at him blindly, the knife raised high in the air, but Henri caught her in time. She fought him and Marius moved forward and took the bloody blade out of her hand. 

"Jean Luc, get your boy outta here!" Marius hissed. "Someone called the cops!"

"Shit!"

Remy blinked, his wits slowly returning. Before he could stop himself, he was running off as fast as he could with the sounds of sirens blaring in his ears.

~*~*~*~

"So I ran," Remy continued, eyes unfocused. "Magneto found me that night and I was on a plane to Bayville the next day."  

Rogue was horrified. "How could Julien do that to his stepsister?!" 

"Julien wasn't a nice guy," he said, putting it as candy-coated as he could for Rogue. "He never warmed up to me or the idea of peace between the guilds. He would have given anything to keep the two gangs rivals. It didn't matter the cost. He knew my short temper and provoked me where it would hurt the most. He knew I would lose it and that one of us would die, continuing the bloodshed between the gangs."

When he stopped, Remy felt exhausted and gulped down his bourbon as quickly as he could to wash away all those horrible memories that made his blood run ice cold. Rogue just sat there, staring at him with her eyes wide, brimming with unshed tears, and face sickly colorless. 

"God," she whispered after a moment, looking down at her lap and feeling completely lost. "I don't know what to say. I still wanna be mad at you but at the same time I just want to hold you and maybe give Belle a good beating."

"Let's just wait until your hand heals before you do something like that, okay?" Remy replied. "I'm sorry, chere. I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to relieve all that drama. That was a very dark time, chere. I didn't intend on reliving any of it again."

"But it seems that ever since I came into your life, you've been forced to relive it all," Rogue said, miserable. "Maybe we…we should break up or something? This relationship isn't very good for our health."

"Don't say that, chere! You've helped me come face to face with my demons. Without you I would still be running from my past. Running won't get me nowhere. I'd still have all my troubles. But now at least I can try to come to grips with what I did and work them out. It's better to meet Belle head on. If she wants to fight, then so be it. I'm ready for a fight."

"Are you going to kill her?"

"I don't know what to do, chere," Remy admitted, helplessly. "But I don't want to be killed either."

Rogue sighed and nodded. "I understand. I'll…stick by you and help you if I can."

Remy lifted her undamaged hand to his mouth and pressed a small kiss against her knuckles. "Thank you, chere."

"Don't expect us sleeping together anytime soon. I'm still a little angry with you."

"I don't care about that, chere," he told her, smiling a little. "As long as I have you, I can go through hell and back."

"Let's try to avoid hell, shall we?" Rogue replied, sniffling. Finally her tears had started to fall and she hid her face behind her hand.

"Don't cry, chere. If you start, then I will to," Remy told her, almost begging as he grabbed a napkin off the tabletop and dabbed gently as her tears. "If I start, then there's no tellin' when I'll stop."

Rogue gave a shaky breath. "Okay. Okay," she whispered before standing up. Remy thought she was going to leave and made to effort to stop her. She probably needed time to think. When she sat next to him, wrapping her arms around his wait, he was completely surprised. She buried her face in his shoulders and held on to him tightly.

Remy closed his eyes, thinking how much her loved her. He draped his arm around her, holding just as tightly. 

"Hmm, look at us," he mused quietly after a moment. "Just two dogs licks each other's wounds."

"We're not licking each other's wounds," Rogue protested. "We're finding comfort in the one we love. I feel very comforted."

Remy gave a faint smile and ran a hand through her hair. "Me too, chere. Should I order us some comfort food?"

"Anything sounds good right about now. It takes a lot of energy to rave at someone. What'cha got in mind, Remy?"

"The usual."

"You thinking about gumbo? I'd like to try some."

"All right, chere," Remy replied, looking up to single his cousin.

Leis approached the table very apprehensively. "Everything worked out, hun?" she asked.

"For the most part, yeah," he replied.

"Good. You and that pretty thing on your arm look good together," Leis commented with a friendly smile. Rogue took her cue and pulled away from Remy to look up at his cousin.

"Oh, this is Rogue," Remy quickly introduced her.

Leis held out her hand and Rogue took it. It was soft and warm, just like her smile. "Nice you meet you."

Lei's brown eyes sparkled. "Ooh, a southern gal!" she exclaimed. "You don't know how happy I am to know that you ain't a Yank. Where you from, sugar?"

"Mississippi but I live in New York."

"So I'm guessing you two met up there?"

Rogue nodded. 

"Well, I'm glad to see you can hold your own against my cousin," Leis laughed, taping Remy's bruise lightly and cause him to cringe. "Though by the looks of your hand, you need some more practice and proper training. But your aim and strength were good."

"No, she doesn't need any practice or training!" Remy protested. "If she does, I'm bound for a world of hurt."

"Well, sometimes you need some sense slapped into you. Who better to do it for you than your girlfriend?" Leis replied, smiling impishly. "Don't worry, Rogue. A week in New Orleans with Remy and your bound to work all the kinks out in the hook. I wouldn't be surprise to see you plow a grown man to the ground, hun." 

"Mon Dieu," Remy muttered, crossing herself.

His cousin looked satisfied. "What do y'all need?"

"Two orders of your gumbo." 

"And some grits," Rogue added. 

"All right, sweetie. It'll be out in just a couple of minutes." With that Leis turned and walked away.

"She's nice," Rogue commented. "Very friendly. I like her."

"Yeah, we're a very friendly sort of people, chere," Remy replied, smiling.

"Is your papa friendly too?"

"Hell no!"

"Where does he papa live?"

"Out in the bayou. About 10 miles southwest of New Orleans."

"Will you watch some of the parade with me before you go out and see him?" Rogue asked. "I don't want to be alone on Mardi Gras."

"You won't be alone on Mardi Gras," Remy assured her, squeezing her gently. "You wanna come with me? I'll introduce you to my papa. He won't kill me in front of a beautiful fille." (girl)

Rogue didn't find that amusing at all.  She just stared at him deadpan. "Sure," she replied hesitantly after a moment. "I'll go."

"We'll probably run into my brother too. He ain't too bad."

"Henri, is a good man," Leis added, sitting the food down on the table. "Mon Dieu, I don't know why you didn't tell you're papa or brother that you were coming down for Mardi Gras. They are going to kill you before you have a chance to set foot inside your house."

"Ah, they miss me, Leis," Remy replied. "I'll probably get a hug or too before Henri drowns me in the bayou."

"That's comforting," Rogue murmured before she dived into her deliciously big bowl of gumbo that turned her insides to mush. "Your family always so violent, Cajun?"

"It's tough love. You get use to it after a while."

To be continued….

**Author's Note: I really liked this chapter especially the flashback. I hope you liked it to and drop me a review. ^___^ Anyway more to come. The next chapter will be very exciting to write. Belle finally shows up! Run for cover!**


	7. The Problem with Crowds

Rainy Day Road Trip by Melfina Lupin

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Author's note: Thanks to all who read and reviewed! You are all greatly appreciated! I'm so sorry for the long wait! Hopefully you all still like the story and me and read! T_T I know you will all love this chapter! = D

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Disclaimer: I don't own the X-men. 

~*~*~*~

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Chapter 7

The Problem with Crowds

Since Rogue and Kitty got back to their room late last night, they fell asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows and stayed that way even though some unfortunately person was banging loudly on their door bright and early the next morning. The girls didn't even budge when the lock was picked and the door flew open. But Rogue did manage to open one groggy eye when her very heavy boyfriend vaulted onto her bed, landing on her and squishing her form into the mattress.

"What the hell you want, Swamp Rat?" she groaned into her pillow.

"Chere, it's Mardi Gras!" Remy told her, as excitable and happy as a child despite his earlier anguish. "Xavier wants us all downstairs so wake up!"

Rogue buried her face in her arms. "Ugh!" she moaned. "What time is it?!"

"9:30, chere! Come on, get up!" He even slapped her on the bum.

"Damn it, Remy, get off me! I'm tired! Let me sleep some more!"

"Sleep later, chere!" he urged. "It's Mardi Gras and it ends at midnight! We've only got 13 hours to party and sin like there's no tomorrow!"

Rogue sighed loudly and forced her heavy body to set up. Once that was accomplished, she fumed and glared at her handsome, smiling boyfriend. "Why are you so damn chipper this morning?" she interrogated, frowning. "Ain't you tired at all?"

Remy shook his head.

"Fine. Let me take a quick shower and get ready," Rogue said, giving in, and slowly climbed out of her nice warm bed. Across the room, Kitty was slowly waking up too. 

"What's all the, like, racket?" the younger girl asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

Remy just grinned and tossed a string of beads at Rogue's young roommate. Kitty was startled at first but she grinned, suddenly wide-awake, and put the necklace on immediately. 

"It's a gift from John," Remy told her.

Kitty laughed and jumped out of bed, energetic despite her late night. "I totally can't believe it's Mardi Gras!" she exclaimed, not really caring if Remy saw her pale pink pajamas. "Are you guys, like, going down to the parade?"

"Oui, chere. After all of us gets a fierce talkin' to from the adults downstairs."

"Really?" Kitty asked, frowning. "That's, like, so lame!"

"We'll at least their not making us tag along with them all day," Remy told her.

"Ooh, Remy, where's the best place to, like, go?" Kitty asked quickly as she hurried around the room. She looked as frantic as a chicken with its head cut off as she hurried to find something to wear.

"There's a party everywhere!" Remy told her. "You going with John?"

Kitty nodded, brushing her long hair as quickly as she could. "Yes, and with Piotr, too. Are they, like, up?"

"Yes. Their down in the lobby with everyone else."

Kitty squealed with excitement, gathered some clothes, and disappeared inside the bathroom even though Rogue was in there using the shower.

"Damn it, Kitty, what are you doing?!" Rogue shouted.

"Brushing my teeth!"

"If you flush the toilet I will kill you!"

"I won't!"

Remy laughed to himself as he sat on Rogue's bed. He couldn't leave the room or else Rogue would just fall right back to sleep. When Kitty reemerged from the bathroom she was fully dressed in a short jean skirt and a T-shirt. But instead of wearing her hair up, she had hid it all behind a cascade of hot-pink locks from a wig and coated her face with gaudy make-up and glitter. 

"You look nice, chere," Remy commented, almost laughing out loud when her saw her fashionable new look.

Kitty beamed as she gathered her purse and camera. "I got it all last night. We'll see each other downstairs, right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. See you in a few!" With a quick wave of good-bye, Kitty was flying out the door in a flash of pink.

It wasn't long before Rogue opened the door to the bathroom and backtracked into her room, rosy from her hasty shower and dressed for a day of fun. Remy tried not to gawk when she appeared.

"Chere, what's the occasion?" The words struggled to come out.

"Shut up, Remy," Rogue threw back testily as she tugged on the hem of her flighty, feminine, but dark sundress. She stood before him, head bowed as her toes dug into the carpet. "I wanted to look nice for your family," she admitted quietly as if he would tease her for her decision.

Remy couldn't help but smile, touched with her concern. "Don't worry, chere," he told her. "They couldn't tell a dress from a garbage bag…Not, that you should change or anything!" he added when he saw a look of panic run by her face briefly. 

For a moment, Rogue continued to look as if she didn't believe Remy. But them she shrugged, smiling, and continued to get ready quickly. But before she could, Remy quickly grabbed her hand, pulling her down for a quick kiss. "You look beautiful, chere."

Rogue's pale cheeks blushed at the compliment but she rolled her eyes and straightened up. "Hey," she asked, "why ain't you wearing your trench coat? I've never seen you without it."

"I have to keep a low profile, chere, so I'll go without for now. Everyone knows that I never went without my trench coat. It was quite legendary."

"So, where is it?"

"John's borrowing it."

"That'll be a site to see," Rogue comment with a smile as she pulled on her shoes. "Ready to go?"

"I'll always be ready for Mardi Gras, chere."

~*~*~*~

"There will be no drinking of any alcohol, wild behavior, or inappropriate displays of the human body of any kind," Logan growled mincingly as he paced into front of the line of young mutants like a drill sergeant. "Do I make myself clear?"

The teenagers nodded their heads hastily, too intimidated by the burly man before them to want Logan to repeat anything.

He turned on them, frowning and hands on his narrow hips. "I can't hear you!" Logan snarled.

"Yes, sir!" they managed to squeak out a rather pathetic answer.

"All right, Logan, I think that is enough for now," Xavier interrupted quickly, rolling forward in his chair with Ororo right behind him. "Students, I hope you have a great day. Have fun but remember to be safe. There are many people here. I advise you all to be on your best behavior."

"Also, since there are so many people, please stay in groups and contact the professor or Jean immediately if you're lost," Ororo added. "Since this all ends at midnight, we would like you to return by then. Agreed?"

The students nodded and quickly began to chat about their day with one another since their meeting was officially over. 

"Man, I'm so excited!" Kurt exclaimed as he walked away with Evan and Sam. "I can't wait to see all the floats!"

"You come here for the floats? That's so stupid!" Evan snapped back. "In Mardi Gras is all about the boobs!"

"What was that, Evan?" Unfortunately, Scott had been walking right behind them with Jean and had overheard the enthusiastic young boy.

Evan winced and glanced at Scott. "Did I say boobs? I meant floats."

Being an uptight feminist with no sense of humor, Jean rolled her eyes and walked out the hotel door in a huff.

As the rest of the eager teenagers began to filter out of the hotel lobby, Rogue stayed behind with Remy to talk with Kitty, John, and Piotr.

"We meeting for lunch right, mate?" John asked.

"Oui. At noon on the corner of Bourbon Street."

"Okay. Er, Rogue, what's got you all so worked up?"

Rouge had been laughing uncontrollably behind Remy. "Sorry," she tried to explain to John without dying of hyperventilation. "It's just that…the coat looks so funny on you. It's a little big."

Kitty quickly tried to stifle her giggles behind her hand and John turned to stare at her accusingly. "Not you too, sheila!" he shouted, shocked.

"I'm sorry, John," Kitty told him, "but Rogue has a point!"

John glared at them, thoroughly insulted.

"Play nice now, Rogue," Remy told her, wrapping and arm around her shoulder and leading her to the doorway. "See ya guys later!"

Rogue was still smiling when they walked out into the warm air and sunshine. It was a gorgeous day. The weather was perfect and not a cloud was tainting the beautiful sapphire sky above them. On the old street, many people were walking on the sidewalks. Most were tourist with bags of merchandise and cameras. They stuck out like a sore thumb when you threw them into the mix with the locals. There were so many people that it looked impossible to have any personal space. Rogue stiffened a little. She didn't handle crowds well.

As they slipped into the unbridled mob and walked down the street, towards the parade route, Rogue pressed herself close to her boyfriend and closed her eyes. She let him guide her as she just continued on her breathing and her control.

She left someone brush her naked shoulder and she had to stop herself from crying out. Maybe she should have worn something that covered her up more? Lost in a crowd this large there was no guarantee she could keep up her control. As the minutes flew by, she found herself getting warmer. Her head spun and she felt her heart pound in her chest. It felt like she was inches from blacking out.

When she finally opened her eyes, she realized that she was standing in a doorway of a building, out of the noisy crowd and hot sun. Remy was in front of her, holding her. She blinked and tried to stand up when she noticed that she was leaning against him.

"Did I black out or something?" she asked, rubbing her head.

"Yeah, for a moment," he told her. "You feeling any better?"

She nodded, slowly. 

"What happened, chere?"

"I freaked about the crowd," Rogue told her, reddening with embarrassment. "I didn't realize how many people where going to be here and I started to worry about my control."

"Chere," Remy murmured, squeezing her shoulder. "You don't need to worry about that. You've always did a great job with it."

Rogue took a deep breath, trying to keep herself calm and levelheaded. "You're right," she told him. "I'm just being stupid, overacting and all. You ready to go?"

"Don't need to go anywhere," Remy told her, moving out of way so she could see passed him and into the street before the building. "The parade's right out side our doorstep."

Rogue gasped and quickly took a step forward. Throngs of people were crowded on the sidewalk below the steps, viewing the parade as float after decorated float promenaded passed them, cheering, signing, drinking, flashing, and dancing. Beads of all different sizes and colors were everywhere as the people on the floats cheered back and threw the lavished medallions to the deserving ones.

"Oh, wow!" Rogue gapped. "It's amazing!"

"Hey, there, darlin'!" A boy around her age was walking up the steps to their private gazebo. "How about a little kiss?"

Rogue drew back in disgust, smelling liquor on his breath. "How about I punch your lights out instead?"

"Come on! Please?"

"Get lost!"

The boy pouted and sulked off as his friends taunted him mercilessly.

"Man, you should have at least gave him a little peck on the cheek," Remy told her. "Brighten his day some."

She wheeled on him. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, don't worry, chere. Everyone kisses someone on Mardi Gras," he told her, wrapped his arms around her waist. "Don't mean anything personal. It's just a bit of fun."

"No offence or anything, Remy, but I'd rather like to stay away from the drunks."

"That'll be everyone, chere."

"You're not drunk."

He winked at her. "Not yet. How about a kiss for Mardi Gras?"

"Fine," she muttered. She turned her face up and felt his lips press against hers firmly. 

"You can't kiss anyone else, Remy." 

"What about if they start it?"

Rogue thought about it for a moment before giving in. "That's okay then I think."

"Hey, Rogue?"

"What?"

"The one who has the most kisses by the end of the day wins."

Rogue laughed out loud. "Dream on, Cajun!"

"Come on! It'll happen anyway!"

"You think you'll win?" she asked slyly.

"I don't know. You're pretty cute yourself, chere. Might give me a run for my money."

"Okay. You're on."

For the next hour, Rogue and Remy stood on the empty doorstep and watched the rowdy parade march by.

~*~*~*~

By noon, Rogue was winning 15-12 and her chest covered with a cascade of bright multicolored beads. She didn't flashed anyone but there was a rule at Mardi Gras that if the necklace fell on the ground, the person who picks it up as to give it away. To make a long story short, a lot of drunken men couldn't catch worth shit and happily shoved them towards Rogue. As the two of them forced their way down to Bourbon Street, laughing and holding onto one another, they finally found the other three.

"Hey!" Kitty greeted them, waving frantically a little ways off. John and Piotr were right behind her.

"Remy, there they are!" Rogue told him, pulling his hand and dragging him toward the trio.

"Shit, this place is just teeming with people! You had no idea what it took for us to get a good view of the parade!" John said.

"We didn't have much trouble."

"You guys ready to eat? I'm, like, totally starving!"

"Hey, Remy, where's a good place to eat?"

"There are some restaurants in Jackson Square. That ain't far from here." 

"All right, then, mate! Let's go! I'm famished!"

Since Remy was the only one who knew where they were going, he led them to their destination. Since it was lunchtime, it took a while for them to get a free table and eat. It didn't take long for them to order, an hour of standing around made them all hungry to a point that they could eat anything. The food was quickly eaten and before Remy knew it, Rogue was dragging him out of the restaurant towards the Garden District after a quick good-bye to her friends.

"What's the rush, sweetheart?" Remy asked, amused.

"Nothing. I just want to see some sights before we head out to your father's."

Back inside the crowded café, Kitty and John were happy to sit down and compose themselves after a day of being squished in the throng of drunken partygoers. Not that it wasn't fun but it did take a lot out of a person.

"Hey, Piotr, where are you going?" Kitty had looked up and saw that the large Russian was on his feet.

"I want to look around some more," he replied. "Plus all the cuddling is getting to me."

Kitty instantly blushed and shoved herself off of John's lap into her own seat. "Sorry. We'll, like, quit."

"It's all right. But I'd still like to go."

"Don't do anything I won't do, mate!" John happily called out as Piotr turned and walked off. When he was gone, Kitty felt arms wrap around her. "Finally! Some time to ourselves!"

Kitty rolled her eyes and phased out of her boyfriend's arms. It was so crowded that anyone would notice.

"Hey! No fair!"

She just sent him a cute smirk and climbed to her feet. "I need to, like, go to the restroom. I'll be right back."

"Okay." John was left alone for a moment as he watched Kitty retreat.

"Excuse me," a new voice showed up.

Instantly the fiery mutant looked up and saw that a very tall woman was standing by their table. She had big blue eyes with a scar running down her left cheek, a thin mouth, and very short blond hair. She was also very tall and wore a long leather coat. John supposed she could have been beautiful at one time but now it looked like she had had a hard life. For a brief moment he wondered what the woman wanted but the stranger's surprisingly kind smile sent John's suspicious away. 

"Er, yes?" John asked.

"Excuse me, I was wondering if you knew a Remy Lebeau?" She even had an accent like Remy's and despite her rough appearance, her voice, like, her smile, was kind and soft.

"How do you know Remy?" he asked, not trying to sound rude.

"We were old friends," she explained. "Is he in town? I know that trench coat from everywhere."

"Yeah, he's in town for Mardi Gras. He's a friend of mine, too."

A spark of light was immediately in the woman's eyes. "Really?"

John nodded and the woman fished something out of her coat pocket. It was a piece of paper. She shoved it into John's hand.

"Could you please take that to him?" she asked. "Please, don't read it."

Her small pout chased that temptation right out of his mind. "Wouldn't think of it," he said, putting the note in his pocket. "I'll get it to him tonight."

The woman smiled. "Thank you so much." She turned to leave.

"Hey! Can I asked you your name in case he asks?"

She turned around. "Tell him that note's from Belladonna."

~*~*~*~

"Holy shit! Remy, look at that house!"

Remy obediently looked. "Oui, chere. It's lovely."

She jabbed at his ribs for his lack of enthusiasm. "Come on, Remy! It's huge and look at all the details! Christ, millionaires must own it or something."

While Rogue was absorbed in snapping photo after photo of the large mansions of the well-to-do Garden District, Remy was bored out of his mind. Of course the stately houses were something to gawk at and admired for the first 100 times but after awhile the boredom sits in as well as the ache in his feet and the pressure in his bladder. It had been 3 hours since Rogue was dragged him into the district and at this rate, he'd doubt he would be able to drag her out. 

"Come on, chere," he was almost pleading now. "It's almost five and we still gotta go see me papa."

Rogue smirked as she held the camera to her face, snapping another picture. "I think it's so cute how you say 'papa'," she muttered under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

Remy growled. "I hate you."

"Poor baby," Rogue cooed, finally packing the camera away. "Well, I've got no more film."

"Thank God. Let's get out of here." Grabbing her hand, Remy pulled her down the sidewalk, where he hailed for a taxi. 

Even though she didn't want to admit it, sitting down on cushioned leather seats after all the standing was a big relief and the cooling air conditioner felt great against her warm skin.

"Where to, sir?" the driver asked from the front seat.

"The Poisonwood bayou, s'il vous plait."

The driver nodded and pulled out into the street.

Once they left the city, the southern countryside was all Rogue saw for the rest of the trip. Not that she minded. It was beautiful and lush now that the green thumb of spring had arrived. After a while, they turned of the main strip of rode and drove down a narrow dirt route. It was long until they reached the swampy bayou and were driving through the murky air. 

"You can stood up ahead," Remy told the driver.

Once they were parked, Remy paid the man and climbed out of the car while Rogue quickly followed. Once they were out, the cab rolled down the road and disappeared.

The air was very thick and humid in the bayou as Rogue glanced around at the dark swamps and the bending trees. Oddly it felt like home. Instantly, Remy was at her side, holding her hand.

"My papa's house is just across the lane, chere," he told her, leading her through the swampland.

She followed him closely, not daring to fall into the patches of water that were hidden in the wet ground. After walking a couple of steps, Rogue looked forward and saw a small house.

"That your house, Remy?"

"Oui. Lovely, ain't it?"

Since it was dark in the bayou, the lights burning in the house were as clear as day. As they drew closer, Rogue could see two figures move out onto the porch. Rogue tired to swallow her nervousness that gnawed at her stomach without mercy but it wouldn't go away. A couple of more feet, she could make out the figures. One was an old patrician-looking man with graying hair and a younger man in his early 30's. They didn't look very pleased.

Remy paused before the porch steps. He was grinning like a fool despite the vicious glares being shot his way from the two older men.

"Well, ain't you going to welcome me home, papa?"

The older man, obviously Remy's father, scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

"My roof needs fixing, boy."

"What?!" Remy shouted. "I didn't come all the way down here to fix your fucking roof!"

The man looked even more displeased. Rogue quickly took note of him. He was handsome and so was the man standing next to him. They looked related. The younger man was no doubt Henri. Feeling a pair of eyes on him, he turned and caught Rogue staring at him. He blinked twice before smacking his father in the arm.

"Shit, Henri!"

"Remy, who be that _fille_ peeking up behind you?"

"That's Rogue," a new voice spoke up. Rogue looked up in surprise and saw Leis was walking out onto the porch, smiling down at the newcomers. "Remy's girlfriend from New York."

She immediately relaxed, seeing the familiar face.

"Come on, Rogue, let's head inside," Leis told her. "You can help me inside while these men fight."

"Fight?" 

"Were not fighting," Remy's father informed Leis but the younger girl just laughed.

"Whatever Uncle Jean Luc. Come one, Rogue."

She didn't want to move a budge.

"Remy?" Jean Luc said.

"What?"

"Help Henri. Then I want to talk to you."

Remy growled.

Jean Luc smiled and shrugged. "You'll help and that's that," he replied before moving into the house. Leis was laughing as she walked down the steps grabbed Rogue's hand, and pulled her inside the house as well.

"Well, it could have been worse," Leis announced as she closed the door front door.

Rogue bit her lower lip. Outside she could her Remy argue with his brother while she watched as the tall Jean Luc march out of the front room, muttering darkly about his thickheaded son.

Leis saw her worry and smiled comfortingly. "Don't worry, sugar," she said, patting Rogue's shoulder. "The Lebeau men are known for their gruff manner. But deep down inside they are as harmless as kittens. Jean Luc and Henri are both glad to see Remy."

"Damn it, Leis. Quit putting words into my mouth!" the older Lebeau yelled from elsewhere in the house. "My son is more trouble than his worth, tracking down here as if his life wasn't in danger! Fucking irresponsible! I'll kill him myself!"

"Yup," Leis sighed. "Just one big softie."

Jean Luc walked back into the room, holding a hammer in his hands. "Don't spread no lies, girl."

"Shut up, uncle!" Leis laughed, not at all offended by the man harsh manner. "I know you're happy to see Remy again. How long has it been?"

"…Almost 3 years," the man replied, his voice softening. He walked to the door, but not going outside until he had kissed Leis on her forehead and Rogue on her hand. "We're just giving Remy some shit. Don't worry about it too much," he told her, grinning before exiting.

"Lord, you guys are a strange family," Rogue sighed once the door was shut again.

Leis beamed. "Don't I know it!" she replied as she walked into the kitchen. "Come one, Rogue. I need some help in here. You ever cooked for 3 hungry men before?"

"No," she admitted nervously, following the older girl into a humble kitchen.

"Well now's a great time to learn!"

~*~*~*~

Two hours later, Leis had sat a large pot of steaming jambalaya, a roasted chicken, as while as a loaf of freshly backed bread on to the round table that Rogue had prepared, lying down the tablecloth as well as cups, plates, and utensils. Everything was wonderfully mismatched and well used, so until the stainless dinnerware at the Institute. At first Rogue felt out of place in the small kitchen but Leis was sure to pull her into the warm, homey atmosphere.

It felt like home after a while. 

Rouge wore an old apron and her hair was tied back to keep out of her way as she worked. Overhead she could hear the constant pounding of hammers as the 3 men worked on the roof. She didn't dare close her eyes, fearing that she would just imagine that this was her kitchen and Remy was working on their roof. Pretty soon he would come down and walk into the kitchen and smile, smelling the scent of the dinner she had carefully cooked for them and looking worn after a hard day of work. He'd wrap her in his arms and kiss her like a starving man as their son…

"Good lord, you ain't pregnant, are you?!"

Leis surprised voice pulled Rogue out of her dream. Confused, Rogue blinked. Shit! She **had** closed her eyes.

"What?" Her pregnant? She stared at Leis as if the woman has lost her mind. "No way!"

"I just saw you holding on to your belly and, well, I thought…"

Rogue looked down and saw that her hand was placed on her abdomen. She blushed and quickly took it off. "I ain't pregnant," she insisted.

"Oh," Leis sighed in relief. "Not that I wouldn't want you to be! I mean, Remy's young and all but he would be a good father."

"We're not having children."

Leis look confused. "Why not?"

"Er…because we not were not married? And were too young anyway."

"But what about in a few years? You guys look really in love. Has he asked to marry you yet?"

"What?!"

Leis looked shocked and a little disappointed. "He hasn't?"

Rogue numbly shook her head.

"Oh. I thought he would…Shit! Forget I said anything. I usually speak my mind without thinking."

"Leis, what did you do this time?" Jean Luc asked, walking into the kitchen with Henri and Remy in tow.

The woman spun around. "Nothing! Wash up before you sit down, all of you. You stink like hell."

"Yes, ma'am!" Jean Luc and Henri moved to the sink and started to run the water.

Immobile where she stood, Rogue was looking up, trying to ignore the presence of a certain Cajun who was staring at her from the doorway. She didn't know what would happen if she did. Her mind was a mess of unwanted thoughts that Leis words and her own imagination had put in there.

But she couldn't hold out long and turned to look at him. She felt her face catch on fire when she saw that he had shed his shirt and was leaning against the frame, sweat glistening in the warm light of the kitchen that slung shadows on his sinewy muscles.

She gulped. 

He smirked, amused at her state of wariness. "You gonna put that pitcher of water down or are you gonna stand there all night, sugar?"

Rogue quickly looked down, saw the pitcher, and quickly set it down. She could help as her trembling hands almost made her drop it.

Instantly Remy's hands were on hers, steadying her. "Easy, chere," he whispered. 

"Sorry," she dumbly before taking a step back from the table. He followed her.

"What's wrong?"

Damn him, Rogue glowered. He knows damn well what's going on and he's only making it worse! 

"Nothing," she replied, her voice strained. 

He smirked and touched a hand to her face.

Damn him! Damn him! Why do I love him? I can't help myself! No matter what I do, I can't stop loving this man! Even if he lied to me about Belle, I can't make myself stop loving him! God, I want to kiss him! Fuck, and his father is right there! Fuck! This is so embarrassing! I'm gonna hit that gorgeous face of his!

"Remy, stop bothering the girl and wash up!" Rogue heard Leis say but they both acted as if they didn't hear her.

Remy just smiled down at Rogue.

God, I want to live my life with this man!

A cold shocked ran through her body, shattering her thoughts immediately.

"Remy? Did you hear me?"

"Yeah, hold on, damn it!" Remy turned away and moved to the sink. 

Without his support, Rogue felt herself totter a little before falling backwards.

"Shit! Rogue!"

She didn't feel herself hit the ground before she blacked out.

~*~*~*~

Rogue moaned softly as she came to. Feeling a little drowsy, she opened her unfocused eyes and try to remember where she was. At first she couldn't see anything but then her eyes adjusted. She saw Remy first. She automatically smiled up at him as he exhaled and bent down to kissed her forehead.

"God, don't scare me like that again!"

"What happened?" she asked.

"You fainted, chere."

Rogue frowned. "I did? Where am I?"

"My papa's bedroom," Remy told her.

It was then that she realized that she was lying down on a soft bed in a small, cozy bedroom. She immediately wanted to fall asleep but she knew she shouldn't. Instead she sighed and tried to sit up.

"Chere?"

"S'okay, Remy," she muttered. "It'll help clear my head."

He nervously helped her up, wrapping her arms around her to keep her still. Rogue closed her eyes, and rubbed her hands over her face.

"How long was I out?"

"A couple of minutes."

"Feels like I've been asleep forever," she mumbled, finally looking up at him. 

"Don't ever faint on me again," he ordered. "My heart won't take it. Jesus, I thought you were dead or something. What happened to you?"

She dug her elbow into his ribs. It was partly his fault for her fainting anyway. At least he had the decency to cover up now. "I was just thinking some stuff," she told him. "And you weren't helping at all."

"Thinking about what?"

She shook her head, stopping the tears from surfacing just in time. "Just something…I'll tell you later."

She was a liar. She'd never tell him what she had realized. He'd probably run for the hills like all guys afraid of commitment. Why should she tell him that she wanted to marry him anyway? That would be kind of wrong since his first wife was still around. Plus Remy never said anything about being something more than boyfriend/girlfirend. She wondered if he even thought about it. She would be a college freshman in the fall. 

What did their futures hold for them?

"Chere, you look pale. Why don't you rest some more?"

She forced a smile. "I'm fine, Remy. Let's eat. I'm starving." She was on her feet and out the door before he could stop her.

~*~*~*~

Henri didn't hold himself back when he stretched and let out a ground shaking belched after dinner. "Damn," he exclaimed. "That was a mighty fine meal, ladies."

Leis shot him a nasty glare while Remy just snickered at his brother's lack of manners.

"Why don't you act like a gentleman for once, Henri?" Leis asked. 

"Thieves are never gentleman unless duty class for it, cousin," he laughed, picking up his plates and putting them in the sink.

Jean Luc rolled his eyes and started to clear the table, kicking Remy under the table to get him to follow his example. Rogue heard Remy sigh as he stood up and helped. She shot Leis a questioning look.

"Lebeau rule," she replied, smiling. "If a woman makes the dinner in this house, the men clean it up."

"I like that rule," Rogue admitted. At the Institute, Logan's claws were the only things that made the boys clean the dinner table. It was a little refreshing to see that some men weren't afraid of 'womanly' chores.

Rogue winced when she heard a violent clatter of dishes and a hissed, "Damn it, Henri, don't drop the fucking plates!"

She laughed quietly at the badgering teasing and asked, "It doesn't happen often does it-women cooking in this house?"

Leis shook her head. "Nah. I only came by because I knew you two would be coming. So of course Uncle Jean Luc forced me into cooking something for them."

"Remy, just where to you think you're going?"

"I'm going to take a walk with my _fille _before it gets too dark," he told his brother, moving towards Rogue and helping her out of her seat. "Come one, chere. There's something I want to show you."

"Okay."

"Henri," he called over his shoulder as they walked out of the warm kitchen. "I'm taking your bike."

"You get her dirty and you're dead meat, Remy Etienne!" his brother replied from the sink.

Remy made an obscene gesture with his hand as he led Rogue into the living room and outside on the porch. She laughed softly once the door was closed.

"What is it, chere?"

"I like your family."

~*~*~*~

"What do you want to show me, Remy?" Rogue asked, as they drove through the quietly countryside as evening slowly settled round them.

He grinned, his eyes forced on the ragged route. "You'll just have to wait and see, chere."

On the narrow road, lithe willow trees blew in the wind on either side of them, but through the spaces between the trunks, Rogue could see out into the vast backcountry.

"We're really out in the middle of nowhere," she muttered to herself.

"About 45 miles from the city," Remy told her. "Were almost there."

He sounded a little nervous to her.

They drove passed an ancient 'For Sale' sign before coming to a stop in front of a tall pair of stone pillars, the iron gate having rusted and fallen off years earlier. Rogue gawked up at the entrance as Remy shut the small black bike down. He swung a long leg over the seat and stood up.

"Come on, Rogue," Remy said, taking off her helmet. "You'll miss everything sitting in there."

Rogue quickly clamored off the bike. The cool twilight air caught her hair and her dress, tugging them gently with invisible fingers. She looked around, confused. They were in the middle of nowhere before an old stone gate. What was going on?

"Remy, where are we?"

Instead of answering, Remy smiled and grabbed her hand, pulling her around the car and through the entrance. About thirty yards away stood a massive house, the main part of a forgotten plantation. Unfortunately it looked as if no one had lived there since the Civil War and was completely in ruins. The frame was still enormous and strong, however, holding the house together despite time and neglect. If Rogue put her mind to it, she could looked passed the broken windows, rusted galleries, overgrown weeds, splintered columns, and pilling paint, too see how the house once stood.

The sight was oddly beautiful and a little sad.

"Remy?"

"Come on, chere," he whispered, pulling her down the same path horse-drawn buggies must have used to move people to and from the mansion. They walked in silence until they stood a couple of feet before the structure.

"She's beautiful. Just the way I remember her," Remy mused.

Rogue looked over at him, wanting him to explain himself but not sure how to ask.

"I'm going to buy her one day and fix her up real good," Remy told her, looking down at her and smiling tenderly. "I want to raise my family here."

The emotions in his face left Rogue speechless. All she could do was hold on to Remy's hand.

"The first time I saw her, I knew that she was going to be my family's house," he went on, now looking at the weather-beaten dwelling. "She's big and sturdy and with the money and the right tools, she'll be fit to live in. There are enough rooms to raise kids, a big yard for them to play in, and even a ballroom for the mistress of the house to throw parties in and a kitchen to cook hand-made meals in. It'll be a good home." Remy glanced down at her. "Build it with me?"

Rogue was taken back, breathless from shock. "What do you mean?"

"I want to live my life here with you, chere," he told her.

"Are you asking me-to marry you?"

"Yes."

"…Oh…"

Rogue fainted for the second time that day.

To be continued…=)

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Author's Note: God, it took me forever to start and finish this chapter! I'm sorry for making you all wait but I had to go back to college on the 11th and I'm still adjusting to life. I wanted to split this chapter is half but I decided to give you guys a treat and make it one deliciously long chapter. ^_____^ Do you forgive me for making you all wait? Honestly, I really love this chapter. It was so fun to write and a nice break away from some serious shit that will happen in the next part. Ominous? Me? Never! Well I hoped you enjoyed this and please review!


	8. The Problem with Engagements

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Rainy Day Road Trip by Melfina Lupin

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Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! They were so funny and cute that they made me smile all day! =) (That smiley is my new obsession) Fainting might be OOC for Rogue but I though would be funny if she did that a couple of times. She's not pregnant, though I did think about it. o_O

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Disclaimer: I don't own the X-men

~*~*~*~

Chapter 8

The Problem with Engagements

When Rogue finally came to it felt like countless hours had passed since she had fainted.

"Hmm…" she mumbled drowsily as she felt something wet and cold on her hot face. The chilling feeling broke her muddled slumber and made her stir. Grumbling softly, she slowly opened her eyes. A dark shadow loomed over her. She blinked a couple of time to focus her eyes.

"Remy?"

He was holding her in his arms, splashing water onto her face. When their eyes met, he sighed and shook his head even though he would have liked to have giving her a good shake too. 

"Damn it, Rogue, what the hell is wrong with you?" he asked. Though his voice was low and raw he sounded more upset than angry.

She shrugged listlessly. "Dunno," she told him, a little slurred. She looked around them. It was getting darker and they were still in front of the old estate. It looked like a haunted house now that the shadows had come out to play. She shivered, suddenly chilled.

"You're probably just exhausted," Remy whispered, running the moist rag across her forehead slowly, cooling her flushed face. "You've had a long day. Plus a healthy does of shock didn't do too well on your system, did it, chere?"

Rogue blinked up at him, struggling to remember what had happened a couple of minutes ago. "Huh?"

"Do you think you can stand or did you want to rest some more?" he asked, completely avoiding her question.

"I think I'm okay now. Help me up."

When she was standing once more, leaning against Remy's tall frame, he tried to lead her back to the motorbike. But she wouldn't move a budge.

"Hey, Remy, you asked me to marry you!" She suddenly exclaimed, remembering everything all at once. "Don't you want my answer?"

Remy threw a shy smile over his shoulder and shrugged. "Yeah. About that," he muttered. "You don't have to answer. I think your fainting was answer enough, Rogue."

She glared at him. "I fainted because I was shocked and a little tired!" she replied. "Not because I was horrified."

Remy looked up, confused and a little relieved. "Really?"

"Yes!" she told him, exasperated.

He looked at her hard. "I'm sorry, chere. I've been thinking about that sort of thing but I never really thought about asking you. Not yet anyway! I don't know! This whole damn trip has gotten me thinking. Thinking about things that I shouldn't consider at the moment. I didn't know until I got here, how much I missed my home, how much I wanted my own home."

"I understand, Remy," Rogue muttered. "You were just caught up in the moment."

"No, chere. I meant every word I said but I fouled up something awful didn't I-talking too soon about marriage. You're going off to college after high school and will probably put off marriage for at least a year or two. I'm sorry, chere."

"Do you really want to marry me?" she asked, shyly.

Remy nodded. "Yes, chere, but there's more."

"What?"

"No doubt the war between the Assassins and the Thieves will come to an end very soon. After that I'm a freeman down here. If that be the case then…then I've decided that I would like to leave the X-men and stay here. I don't belong in New York or college."

Rogue stared at him, her heart suddenly caught in a tight cold hand. He wanted to leave the X-men? He wanted to leave her? How in the world did her think he could marry her and then stay here? Unless…he wanted her to stay here too?

"You want to leave me?" She couldn't stop the tears from rising and falling down her face. 

Remy looked worried. "No, chere," he whispered frantically, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her trembling form close to him. "I don't want to leave you. I love you. Please don't cry, chere."

She couldn't help but sob against him. She was so confused!

"But this is my home and I miss it so much. I wanted to know if you would like to stay with me-live with me down here in New Orleans."

"And leave the Institute?" Rogue asked. "I don't know, Remy. My training isn't done and I still got my senior year to finish out…God damn it, but I'm tempted to throw it all away. I like it down here. I want a home here."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"I don't want you to drop school either. You can attend college here and we can rebuild this house. We'll marry when we're ready too. I know I might be asking a lot from you, chere, but I'm selfish. I want my own home and you."

Rogue looked up at him quickly, speechless. Could she really leave the Institute? It had been her home for the passed 3 years. And what would the adults say? She would turn 18 before she graduated so they couldn't stop her from going to college in New Orleans and marrying Remy. The more she thought about it the more she wanted it. She wanted to be Remy's wife and make a home with him! She wanted it so bad! It wasn't very rational but she didn't care. She wanted to marry him.

Rogue sniffled and quickly wiped away her impulsive tears, straightening away from him. 

"Chere?"

"I'm sorry, Remy. But what about Belle? I love you so much but I can marry you now with her still alive and trying to kill you."

"Please don't worry about her, chere. I'll take care of things," he replied. 

Rogue sighed. "All right, Remy. You can ask me again." 

She thought she would die when she saw the look of utter happiness pass over his face. He grinned down at her.

"You sure?"

She nodded.

Remy grabbed her hand, kissed it, and slowly knelt before her. Rogue laughed, flushed with embarrassment.

"Will you marry me, Rogue?"

She was getting teary-eyed as she nodded fervently. "Yes," she gasped out. "I'll marry ya."

Remy quickly jumped to his feet and pulled her into an enveloping hug. He kissed the top of her head and muttered, "You've made me so happy, chere. I promise to take care of you. I'll make you happy."

She smiled, sinking into Remy's embrace. "I know you will."

"When we get into town, I'll buy you the most beautiful ring there ever was!"

"Let's just hold off on the ring for a while, okay, Remy? When the other's see it on my hand they will flip."

"When should we tell them?"

"When we get back to Bayville," Rogue said. "I'll finish high school then we can come back here and get married."

Remy purred in contentment as he held her tighter. "I love you so much, chere!"

"I love you too."

~*~*~*~

Rogue was smiling from ear to ear when they got back to the hotel a little before midnight. After proposing, Remy had taken her by to New Orleans to celebrate and, though she didn't want the night to end, she was dead tired. The heat, the crowds, and her uncontrollable emotions took a toll on her weary body. They checked in with Ororo and Remy carried Rogue up to her room.

"Get some sleep," he told her, placing her gently down on her bed. "You look beat."

Rogue grabbed his hand. "Don't leave," she pouted sleepily.

He laughed gently and kissed her forehead. "Sorry, chere. Kitty's coming in and I don't think she'll want me in here. Good night."

"Good night, Remy."

Rogue sat up enough to watched Remy walk out of the room, biding a good night to her roommate, who shut the door before collapsing onto the ground with an exhausted sigh.

"I'm so tired!" Kitty said. "But I don't want to go to sleep!"

"Me neither," Rogue sighed, dreamily. "I'm too happy."

Kitty perked up. "Happy? Ooh, what did, like, Remy do?"

Rogue shot up off her bed and grinned at Kitty. "I can't tell."

"Why not?"

"You'll flip."

Kitty frowned, crossing her arms around her chest. "Rogue! I thought we were friends! Tell me!"

"All right, but please don't tell anyone else and I really mean it this time, girl!"

"My lips are sealed. I promise!" Giddy, Kitty stood up and jumped onto Rogue's bed. "Spill it!"

Rogue blushed as she said, "We're…"

Kitty blinked. "…what?"

"We're…we're breaking up!"

"WHAT?!"

She nodded, laughing. "Yup. It's true. Remy's running away with a French cancan girl and I met a hot guy from Brazil. We thought I would be best if we went out different ways."

Kitty smacked Rogue with a pillow. "Lair! You are, like, so mean!"

Rogue laughed and said," I'm just playing with you. I had a really good day. That's all."

The younger girl stared at her in faint suspicion. 

"Boy, I'm hungry," Rogue admitted, climbing off her bed to stretch. "Let's order from room service. I'm in the mood to celebrate."

"Ooh, good idea!" the younger girl replied, eye brightening up immediately. "Ice cream sounds, like, totally awesome now."

~*~*~*~

Remy was halfway into his room before John jumped up behind him, grabbing him on the arm.

"Hey!" Remy shouted, jumping with surprise as the Australian laughed, tickled by catching the renowned thief off guard. "Watch it, mon ami!"

"Damn, mate, where have you been?" John demanded, letting Remy go and following him inside the warm room. "I've been looking for you everywhere!"

"Why?"

John frowned, taken back for a moment. "I met a friend of yours in town after you guys left."

A friend? Remy didn't like the sound of that. The thieves didn't know who John was.

"Who?"

John shrugged and offered an impish smile. "Dunno. I forgot her name, mate. Well, it was weird anyway. She gave me a note to give to you." He pulled it out of his pocket and held it out to Remy.

The thief immediately snatched it away and turned away from John, grim with apprehension. If it was a girl then it was a good chance that it was Nicolette but she would contact him instead of involving a third party. No, it wouldn't have been anyone from the Thieves. Then it must have been Belladonna.

"What? No thank you?" John asked, snickering.

Remy turned and glared at his friend before looking down at the note and ripping it open. He instantly recognized the neat penmanship written in dark red ink. Had he been superstitious he would have thought it was blood.

_Dear Rem,_

I'm glad to see that you're still alive and well. I thought that I would have to go and get you but you made it easy and came to me instead. Don't get it in your head that you'll change my mind. I still plan to kill you. If you want you friends unharmed, you will meet me tonight at midnight. I'll be waiting for you by our tree. Remember where that is? 

With all my love,

Belladonna B.

Remy was shaking with anger by the time he finished the letter. Frowning and cursing Belle, he crumbled it without hesitation. He was tempted to burn it but he didn't want to set off the fire alarms.

"Er…bad news, mate?" John spoke up nervously.

Remy rounded on friend. "I need to leave," he hissed, moving quickly to his suitcase where he pulled out a concealed handheld gun. "Where's Piotr?"

"I…don't know."

Remy frowned. "I don't know when I'll be back. Don't tell anyone I'm out."

John stared uneasily at the gun. "Damn, mate," he whispered. "What the fuck is going on?"

"It's none of your business," Remy retorted quickly, throwing on his trench coat and tucking the gun into his belt. "And keep your mouth shut. Don't tell anyone I'm out." 

John could only gap like a fool as he watched Remy opened a window. The thief smoothly climbed out into the iron gallery without a sound where he disappeared into the night.

(Author's Note: Oh la la, a ticked off Remy is y-u-m-m-y!)

~*~*~*~

"Hey, you wanna, like, watch a movie, too?" Kitty asked, looking up from painting her toenails on her bed. 

Rogue poked her head out of the bathroom, just finished taking a much-needed shower after the long day. "You talking about a girls' night, or something?" she asked.

Kitty nodded eagerly. "Yeah, I mean, like, were both awake now and we can't our boyfriends until tomorrow. We've ordered half the deserts on the menu, too. So lets have a girls' night!"

Rogue felt herself give into the tempting idea as she smiling, brushing her wet hair. "Okay. What's on?"

The other girl shrugged and turned on the television. There was a brisk knock on the door, making both of them look towards it. Rogue quickly walked out of the bathroom, throwing her brush in her bed.

"Must be the food," she announced. "I'll get it."

Once at the door, she stood up in tiptoe and peered through the small peephole. On the other side there was a man in a white uniform waiting with a cart out in the hallway. Rogue stepped back and quickly opened the door. She unprepared when something was sprayed into her face. Surprised, she winced and breathed in the stuff.

Kitty looked up in surprise when she saw Rouge collapse unto the floor.

"Rogue?!"

She saw two men enter the room quickly and she gaped in fear. What was going on? One man picked up Rogue and threw her limp body over his shoulder. Kitty jumped to her feet and tried to get away as the other man ran towards her. She didn't get far when he held up a small silver aerosol and dosed her with spray. She immediately felt sleepy, her limbs quickly turning into lead. She tottered drowsily before dropping to the ground, paralyzed and unconscious. 

"Come on," the man said, picking up the smaller girl. "Let's get out of here before we're caught."

"Which one is the right girl?"

"I don't know. Just bring them both."

~*~*~*~

The streets were eerily quiet when Remy hurried through them, unnoticed as a shadow. It was sickening easy to steal that motorcycle while its owner was elsewhere. Slicing through the dark night like a demon, he pushed the bike towards the meeting place as quickly as possible. The old tree was located by a pond a little ways out of the city limits but it wasn't far. That was the pond Remy and Belle spent most of their summers at when they were younger. That was the place where they played and flirted. A place where Remy had asked for her hand in marriage and a place where they first made love under the hot summer sky. 

Remy bitterly forced all those memories down and focused solely on the road speeding by him. He damned Belle to hell for selecting the spot to convene. 

In the middle of night, the little pond was hardly inviting. Mist floated upon the dark waters and wrapped around the old weeping willow like a silver snake. The moon beamed down at him through the thick billowing clouds, casting shadows onto the earth as the cool breeze made the pussy willow of the lake quiver as if chill.

Remy slowed before finally parking the bike and shut it off. Then he climbed off and marched down to the dingy lagoon. It was quiet there too once the motor was off. 

"Belle?" he shouted, unafraid to hear his voice shatter the silence.

When there was no reply, he frowned and squinted through the darkness. Where was she? A twig snapping in half behind him had him spinning around and ready for battle. A tall shadow lingered by the willow. His heart jumped.

"Belle?"

The shadow moved forward a step and the moon glanced out of the clouds. Moonlight fell upon them, basking the figure in pale light. Remy gaped when he saw that face that was so familiar yet so drastically transformed.

Belle snickered at Remy. "I was wondering if you going to get my letter," she whispered. Her voice was so longer soft and sweet. It was hard and cruel just like her eyes and her sneer. Remy couldn't believe that the woman he was staring at was Belle. She had cut off her gloriously golden locks and was clad in nothing but black leather. She wore a choker with the Assassins symbol on it.

"Welcome back to New Orleans."

Remy shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Belle, what the hell are you doing?"

She baited her blue eyes at him and pouted. "I'm not doing anything, cher. I just want a nice little chat."

"Why have the Assassins attack my guild? Marius can't be behind these attacks."

"No, Marius is not behind them because Marius is dead!" Belle announced, her calmly held anger making her words sharp and cold. "I'm the Assassins new leader now. I'm the one behind all the attacks."

Remy stared at her in surprise. "You-The new leader? What happened to Marius? Why is he dead?"

"Oh yes, I'm the new leader. Daddy didn't see the point in trying to find you or avenge his son's death," Belle told him, snickering. "Daddy thought about ending the war once and for all even after the peace code was violated. He was going to disband the Assassins and throw me into a hospital. But I couldn't let him do that. I couldn't let him forgot his only son like that or let you go so easily. You needed to be punished for your actions. But Daddy did see it that way so I killed him. The lazy fuckers that make up the Assassins didn't know. They thought it was just an accident. They were ready to leave. But when I became the leader I forced them to stay and do as I willed."

"Belle, this war can't go on anymore! No more people should have to die," Remy argued desperately, staring at the eccentric woman. "You've got me here. You've got what you wanted. So end it. End it now!"

Belle smiled and shook her head. "No, my love, I won't end it until I make you feel the same misery and sorrow I felt when Julien died."

"Why does his death mean so much to you? Julien was a bastard, Belle. He was trying to rape you on our wedding day! How could you want to avenge his death?" 

"My brother was a good man, Remy!" she screamed at him. "You never knew Julien like I did. Shut up!"

"Belle, you can't possibly drag this out anymore."

"I can and I will. Why? Do you think you'll be able to kill me? You're a coward," she hissed. "You can't kill me even if you tried. You still love me."

"I pity you," Remy corrected, shaking his head and pulling out the gun. He pointed it at her fearlessly. "But if I have to kill you, then so be it. I won't let you hurt anymore people."

Belle laughed, her thin cruel laughter echoing through the pond, and moved away from the tree, dauntlessly walking closer to him. Remy was more than ready to pull the small trigger.

"If you kill me now," Belle said, "then you'll never know where she is, cher."

"Where who is?"

Belle stopped and drew something out of her pocket. It gleamed in the moonlight when she tossed it to him. He caught it in his free hand quickly and looked at it. It was a ring. Looking closer, he noticed that it was Belle's wedding ring.

"Thought you might want a ring to give to your new girlfriend," she told him. "Or should I say wife? Honestly, Rem, how could you ask a girl to marry you when I'm still alive?"

Remy paled. His grip on his gun weakened as she glared at Belle. "We ain't married to more, Belle. Leave Rogue out of this. I'm the one you want."

"No, I can't leave her out of this! As I said before I'm out to make you suffer just like you made me suffer before I kill you. It wouldn't be fun just to take you out of your misery now, now would it?"

"Where did you take Rogue?"

Belle smiled and shrugged. "You won't find her. But we will make sure that her body is recovered when we're done with her."

Remy swore and replaced the gun before turning and running back to the bike and racing back to the city. Though the Assassins might want to end the war just like Remy, they would not refuse to kill a young defenseless girl. They were black-hearted murderers. He needed to find her as quickly as possible.

To be continued…

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Author's Note: What will Remy do?! Where is Rogue and Kitty?! Why do I always use cliffhangers? Well that's it for chapter 8. I hope you liked it. Does Belle seem crazy to you guys? I tried to make her but I don't think I did her justice. Well if you didn't catch on Belle is one crazy lady. 


	9. The Problem with Conclusions

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Rainy Day Road Trip by Melfina Lupin

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Author's Note: OMG! I'M SO SORRY FOR THE SLOOOOOOOOOW UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!

**coughs**

Well, thanks to everyone who reviewed except for one that made me want to stop writing all together. =) This is the last chapter and hopefully all your questions will be answered!!! I hope you enjoyed this little story. OXOX ^__^I love you all even if you hate my guts because I took my sweet-ass time with this chapter. -___-

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Disclaimer: I don't own the X-men

~*~*~*~

Chapter 9

The Problem with Conclusions

Kitty's head was pounding violently when she finally came too. For a brief moment she thought that she had fallen asleep in her hotel room but upon opening her misty blue eyes, she automatically panicked when she saw in complete darkness. She frantically blinked for a moment, trying to clear her vision but nothing worked. She thought that she was blind but as her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness Kitty could see that she was in a very dark room. Squinting through the dimness, she tried to look around but the movement only aggravated her lacerating headache to the point where she thought she might be sick. What was she doing there?

Then it came back in a flash. The two mysterious men coming into their room and drugging Rogue and her with a spray.

_Okay, Kitty, just calm down_, she told herself firmly as she started to get panicky. _You've been through worse. Just think of Logan's training sessions._

She immediately paled and her anxiety doubled, knotting up her stomach.

_Okay, bad idea. Think of Scott's training lessons._

She took a couple of deep breaths to make the feeling go away and to slow her pounding heart. She was positive someone would have hurt the constant beating and come to see what it was. After a moment, she realized that she was lying on a damp, dirt floor on her side with her hands tied behind her. It looked a though she was a small cellar room no doubt a couple of feet below the ground. Chilled and dirty, Kitty frantically sought out her friend.

"Rogue?" she whispered softly through the ringing silence. "Rogue, where are you? Are you okay?"

Craning her neck, she found a second lifeless shape, just a mound of shadows, a couple of feet away. Like Kitty, Rogue was prostrate on the freezing ground but she wasn't moving. She was still unconscious. Kitty gulped and felt tears come into her eyes. She didn't know if Rogue was hurt or not.

Kitty didn't know what was happening but she knew that they were both in trouble. She could try to contact the professor but that wouldn't do any good since she didn't know where she was. She had to phase out with her powers and get back to the hotel. She would have to leave Rogue behind too. Kitty barely had the strength to phase her own body let alone Rogue.

Summoning her faltering strength, Kitty concentrated and phased her hands from their tight binding. The rope had dug into the flesh, causing bleeding and bruising, but she had other problems to worry about. Quickly, Kitty hurried over to Rogue and rolled her onto her back.

"Rogue?" she hissed, gently shaking the older girl in vain. "Rogue, please wake up!"

Rogue didn't move and she was frightening pale. Kitty bit her lower lip and brushed a couple of dirty wayward locks from out of the girl's face. She really didn't want to leave her. 

There was a muffled voice outside the door to the cellar. Kitty looked up sharply before jumping to her feet and passing through a wall to freedom just as the door opened. 

~*~*~*~

Remy was charging down the side streets on his motorcycle as if the devil were on his tail. Trembling and pale, Remy hardly breathed and his heart hardly beat as he gripped the handles wit his hands, his trench coat tails flapping wildly behind him. He was scared. Rogue was danger. Remy repeated screamed at himself mentally for his own stupidity. It would be his fault entirely if something happened to her. Why did he see this coming? What would be do if something happened to her?

Frowning, he knew that he shouldn't talk like that. Part of him thought to sound the alarm with the X-men. With them, he could find her as soon as possible. He knew he needed to see the professor but he really didn't want them meddling in his precarious affairs. If was his fault Rogue was gone and now it was his obligation to save her. 

Remy was about to turn a sharp corner when something caught his attention in the corner of his eyes. Glancing side-ways, he saw Kitty running frantically down the street. Her face was tear-stained and pale and her clothes grimy as if she had been rolling around in the ground. Taken back by her sudden appearance, Remy swung his bike around, the wheels screaming in protest and burning on the rough surface of the street, and rode towards the girl.

"Kitty!"

The girl gave a startled jump and spun around. "Remy!" she cried out, half sobbing as she ran over to the stationary bike. "They have Rogue!"

Remy pulled the trembling, breathless girl into his arms. "Shh, chere," he murmured, holding her close. "Do you know where?"

"In a factory somewhere," Kitty replied, his big blue eyes full of tears. "I don't know. It was dark. People were chasing me. I barely got away. Rogue…I left Rogue there. She was unconscious and I couldn't bring her with me! Remy, we've got to, like, go get her! Those people are dangerous! They might kill her!"

"We will Rogue, chere, don't you worry. Get on. I'll take you back to the hotel," Remy replied, and Kitty carefully climbed on behind him. 

The ride to the hotel was a quick one since there was no time to lose. He helped Kitty off and was about to speed off once more when Kitty stopped him.

"Wait, Remy! Shouldn't we get the X-men?"

"This is my business. I don't want them in it."

"Please! You can't handle this by yourself, Remy. There are too many people holding Rogue hostage. It's too dangerous. Please, let the Professor and the others help you!"

Remy frowned, not liking this one bit. He was never one to confide in others expect Rogue.

"If you don't let us help," Kitty began, looking like she was about to cry all over again. "I'll tell the professor. I don't want you to go alone. We care for Rogue as much as you do, too!"

"Yeah, but I was the one who got you all into this mess, Kitty."

"So what? We're family and we look after each other like one!"

He finally sighed and quickly shut off the humming bike. He got up and muttered, "Let's do this quickly, all right?"

No one was about inside so they made quick work of making it up to Xavier's room without incident. But before they could knock, Ororo stepped out of her room and sent them a hard look when she noticed the distressed duo. When she saw the state Kitty was in, she frowned and quickly hurried over.

"What's happened?" she demanded in a no-nonsense voice, pulling her hands on her hips. They tired not to cower in her intimidating presence.

"Rogue's in trouble," Remy began quickly, bracing himself for the witch's terrible wrath. "It's my fault. She was kidnapped by my rivals tonight."

Even if she didn't know whom Remy was talking about, a look of extreme concern passed Ororo's mocha-toned face. "Talk with Xavier," she ordered in a voice the left little room to argue. "He'll know what to do."

"Should I go with him?" Kitty asked.

Storm shook her head and grabbed Kitty's hand in her own. "Not yet, child," she murmured softly. "First clean up and then you'll meet the professor. Remy, without a doubt, must wish to talk with Xavier alone for a moment."

Remy sighed and watched as Storm led the shaky Kitty back to her room. Feeling chills run up and down his spine, he turned and regarded the lustrous door with the utmost apprehension. He hesitated for a moment, nervous as to what Xavier might say to him. Well he needed to act fast if he wanted to save Rogue before anything happened to her. Pushing his fear away, Remy bit his lower lip and quickly knocked. He hoped that he hadn't caught the older mutant at a bad time.

Of course he could always turn-tail and run for it. He was about to do it when a voice entered his head, freezing him on the spot.

'Come in, Remy.'

He jumped when he was the voice resound in his head but quickly regained his composure and hurried inside. Xavier was sitting in an overstuffed chair by the fireplace. He was dressed in a pair of black slacks and a red robe with a thick book on his lap. But it was forgotten as Xavier was staring at the young Cajun with polite curiosity. Usually Remy was nervous around the composed gentleman but forced himself to cross the room and get to the point.

"I'm sorry, professor," he started quickly, "But Rogue's in trouble."

Xavier quickly closed the book. "What sort of trouble, Remy?"

Remy sighed and dropped into the empty chair facing the older man. "Two years ago I was the head of the Thieves Guild here in New Orleans and we had a long and bitter feud with the Assassins, another guild of thieves. When I was 16 I married the daughter of the head of the Assassins to end the war. On our wedding day, I killed Belle's brother and had to get away. Now Belle has come into power in the Assassin Guild and is looking to kill me. I came down here to try to talk some sense into her. I saw her tonight but she had already kidnapped Rogue and Kitty."

Xavier looked at Remy sharply. 

"Kitty escaped but Rogue is still with them," Remy continued. "She could be anywhere. I'm sorry I dragged you all into this mess and not telling you anything but I wasn't thinking. Now Rogue might be hurt…I need you're help, professor."

At first, the professor didn't say anything then he sighed and put his book away. "I'll search for her telepathically and assemble the team," he said. "We'll find her, Remy"

Remy was faint with relief. "Thank you, sir."

"There is no need for formal titles," Xavier replied. "We are a family at my Institute. In the future I hope you see that truth, honesty, love, and compassion hold a family together."

(Aww! **sniffle** Professor X's is such a softie)

~*~*~*~

"Time to wake up, _ma petite chere_," a soft, almost child-like voice was whispering to her. Rogue frowned, feeling the tickling sensation of a feather running down the bridge of her nose, annoying her and waking her up at the same time. "You've slept long enough. Now it's time to play."

Feeling more than a little drowsy, Rogue forced herself to open her eyes. At first she could hardly make anything out. It was really dark save a candle burning a couple of feet away from her. She was lying on the ground and a very small room. Turning a little she saw a pale face looking down at her. The woman was hunched down of the ground, looming over Rogue and smiling.

"There you go, chere," the woman purred, cupping Rogue's face in her cold, leather-covered hands. "Such pretty green eyes."

"Where the hell am I?" Rogue hissed, jerking her face out of the vice-like grip.

The dreamy-eyed woman puckered her blood-red lips and cooed softly. "Such a nasty voice for a sleeping beauty, chere," she murmured, shaking her head. "You are in one of my little hideouts 20 feet below the city."

Rogue stared at her and frowned. "I want to ask who you are but I'm pretty sure I already know."

The woman smiled but it was an impish snicker at the most. "I'm sure you do, pet," Belle replied, softly.

"What do you want with me?" Rogue demanded.

"I want to kill you, chere. But seeing as the other child got away, I know Remy will be here any moment. I'll probably shoot you in front of him before he can stop me." Belle shrugged. "Unfortunately I don't have the time to do all I wanted to you. But we don't mind. Just picturing the look in Remy's face as he sees you die is good enough. All we can do now is wait for the prince to show." Sighing, Belle sat down next to Rogue.

"We?" Rogue asked. She glared when she felt Belle run her thin fingers through her hair. 

"Hmm-mm," Belle sighed. "Julien and I. We have been waiting for two years for this. We can wait a few more minutes."

Rogue couldn't believe her eyes. God, she's fucking nuts, she thought.

"This room isn't very pleasant to spend your last few hours in but I wouldn't want you to be in the next room," Belle muttered, pointing absentmindedly to the door. "Full of ill-mannered men. So we'll keep each company for the moment, all right?"

Rogue stared at her. "You **are** going to kill me, right?"

Belle smiled and stroked Rogue's cheek with the long white feather. "Yes. But it's Remy we want to hurt. We hold nothing against you."

"Are you going to kill Remy?"

Belle shrugged, her face an ambiguous mask of apathy and she continued to play with Rogue's hair. "We will see at the end of our duel, _ma chere_."

~*~*~*~

"Where did they take her?!" Logan snarled.

Remy would have been glad to answer it only Logan would ease up a little on his neck as he held him against the wall, ready to pound him mercilessly.

"Logan, that's enough," Ororo said sharply. "You'll kill him. Besides he doesn't know."

"That doesn't mean that he's not at fault they were kidnapped!"

"Logan, please."

Growling low in his throat, Logan let go of Remy and the young Cajun fell to the ground, trying to catch his breath. 

"Damn, mon ami," he wheezed, rubbing his neck. "Look, I know I screwed up, all right? Let's just put that aside and get down to business and find out where Rogue before it's too late!"

"I've already talked with Kitty," Xavier announced to the room full of attentive mutants. "She says she was underground and a mile outside of the city. Near an old factory. Remy, do you have any idea where exactly that might be."

Remy frowned and nodded. "Yeah. Around that part, there are abandoned cellars that use to hold things for the factory. It seems like somewhere the Assassins would hang out. Then again they have many hideouts in and around the city."

"We will look there first then," Xavier planned. "Everyone, prepare to leave!"

~*~*~*~

"He doesn't want to fight you," Rogue told the crazed woman. "Believe it for not, he…he loved you…once."

Belle's pale face hardened. "What do I care, chere? Believe it or not, I never loved him," she whispered. "We were close friends, yes, but I never loved him. Being young and immature I followed my Daddy's orders and married Remy. But I couldn't stand by and follow orders when Daddy said that Julien deserved to die. I couldn't let Daddy treat his stepson's memory like that. I knew Remy had to be punished for the murder of Julien and that I was the only one who would do it."

"Why are you so obsessed with your brother?!" Rogue shouted in agitation.

Belle looked as if she were close to tears. "Because we were in love. When Daddy found out about our relationship he tried to put a stop to it by forcing me to marry some swamp trash. Julien was awfully upset, weren't you, Julien?"

Belle's eyes regarded a space beside her as if she were talking to her dead lover. 

"Don't talk about Remy liked that!" Rouge yelled. "He ain't trash! He really loved you! He told me that Julien was trying to rape you on your wedding day!"

Belle sighed and turned her eyes back to Rogue. "He wasn't trying to rape me. He was just acting like he was too rile Remy up some. The plan was to have Remy break the peace contract signed before our wedding, with would ultimately end our marriage, so that I could run away with Julien. But things turned ugly very quickly. Julien wasn't suppose to die."

"But he was your brother!"

"Only by Daddy's second marriage," Belle replied. "Julien never liked the Thieves; pompous pricks who thought they could rule New Orleans-the lot of them. He couldn't stand the idea of me-Daddy's little princess- marrying one."

Rogue just shook her head. Man, this is too weird!

"I can see why Remy loves you," Belle continued softly. "I can see it in your eyes that you would protect him at all costs. You've a passion and strength that I never possessed. I've a feeling that if I unbound you hands you can take on everyone here and win." Belle smiled and continued to play with Rogue's hair. "It's a pity that we have to kill you."

"Remy will stop you before you do," Rogue argued.

"We'll see, chere." Belle turned her head when she heard a loud shuffling outside the door followed by gun shots and muffled voices. 

_'Rogue? Are you there? It's Jean!_'

Rogue rolled her eyes. It was about damn time. _'Where the hell is my knight in shining armor?'_

'Don't worry. He's here and so are the others. Where are you?'

_'Disneyland…I'm in a small room with a lunatic!'_

_'Are you hurt?'_

'No.'

Belle was on her feet in an instant; her blue eyes still secured of the bolted door. It sounded like a war was going on outside. If Rogue listened carefully she bet that she could hear Logan's growls and Kurt's 'bamph's. Bending over, Belle grabbed a hold of Rogue and pulled her up. Belle reached into her coat and pulled out a gun, cocked it, and aimed it at Rogue's head.

"Time for the finale, chere," Belle muttered with a sigh as she smiled ruefully to herself. "I promise to make it quick."

With that she dragged Rogue to the metal door and flung it open. In the second, much larger room, Rogue could see that the X-men were fighting the Assassins but when the two woman appeared things stopped almost instantly. Rogue frantically looked around for Remy. He was holding a badly beaten Assassin by the collar, his fist inches away from punching him in the face.

"Quite a party!" Belle laughed, seeming childishly delighted. "And Remy, you brought friends! That's lovely. Had I known I would have taken Rogue to my mansion and showed you all some real Cajun hospitality [1]!"

Remy frowned and flung the Assassin away. "Let Rogue go, Belle," he demanded. "Your fight is with me."

Belle quickly pointed her gun at the young man. "Stop. You'll ruin our plan if I have to shoot you now, Remy."

He stopped and looked at Rogue, desperate.

"Now then," Belle cooed, bringing the gun back to Rogue's temple. "I think it's time to end this all. Don't you agree, Remy?"

Before Belle could squeeze the trigger, Xavier wheeled himself forward and concentrated, coercing his way into Belle's deranged mind, wiping as many of her thoughts as he could. Instantly, she stiffened and jumped away, holding her head in her trembling hands. Screaming, she shuddered and dropped to her knees, almost unconscious. Remy was instantly as Rogue's side, pulling her into his arms.

"It took you long enough," Rogue muttered, savoring the warmth of her boyfriend. 

"Shut up, chere," he muttered, kissing her forehead. "Are you hurt?"

Rogue shook her head and closed her eyes. "No."

Xavier was faint by the time he withdrew from Belle. However, the girl was far worse. An Assassin meekly walked forward the gathered her up in his arms. He looked at Remy. "No hard feelings," he whispered. "We were doing what she forced us to do. We'll take her to a hospital. The Assassins won't trouble the Thieves no more."

Remy nodded and the Assassins quickly withdrew from the shelter.

"I'm sorry, Remy, but couldn't restore her to original state of mind," Xavier said. "Her mind was already severely unstable."

He shrugged, holding Rogue tight in his arms. "As long as she doesn't come after me or the ones I love, I don't care, professor."

~*~*~*~

"That was some vacation," Rogue sighed as she stood next to Remy in the parking lot. Around them students flung their luggage into the vehicle, preparing for the long drive back to New York. It was Friday and they had school on Monday. "I was honestly surprised that there was a conflict."

Remy rolled his eyes and pulled the girl closer to his side. "You're ability to crack jokes in your side of being amazes me, chere," he teased. "You should be on sedatives after that ordeal."

"What can I say? I have a strong disposition. Besides the last two days helped more than enough with the post-traumatic stress part."

"How can lying around in bed all day, eating junk food help?" Remy asked. 

"I'm not talking about that part, stupid," Rogue comment dryly.

Remy's face lit up with a smirk. "Oh, you're talking about the _other _part."

"You're a bright one."

"Hey, you two!" Scott called out from his car. "We're almost ready to leave. Hurry up!"

They both sighed.

"I don't want to leave, chere," Remy whispered.

"I know. But it won't be long before we're back. When should we tell them?" Rogue asked, nervously toying with the simple ring on her finger. Remy had bought it for her yesterday but she hadn't told anyone that it was an engagement ring. "We all ready told your family and everything."

"About our engagement? I dunno, chere. Either way Logan's going to beat the shit out of me. I'll be dead before the wedding."

Rogue smiled and hugged her boyfriend around his waist. "I wouldn't let him harm one hair on your pretty little head."

"Thanks, chere."

"No problem."

"Guys!" Scott called out again, frantically pointing to the pile of luggage that wasn't getting any smaller by the cars. "Luggage! Help!"

The ignored him and drank in the warmth and peace of the air for the last time with another nostalgic side.

"I love you, Remy," Rogue said after a moment.

"I know, chere," he replied, pulling her closer. "Love you too."

The (much anticipated) End!

****

Author's Note: In the comics Julien and Belle might have had incestuous relationships so if you think it's absurd here, read the comics or another story. =) Well that's it for this series. **sniffle** I promise myself I wouldn't cry. It's been a fun ride and I know this story is a little crazier than 'In the Rain' but I still hope that you liked it. If not, well that the way the cookie crumbles, right? **sniffle** I'm a fragile being. Please be nice in your reviews.

[1] tee hee! Do you get it? It's the title to my other Romy fic. Subliminal message? Moi? I might do a sequel to 'Cajun Hospitality' and call it 'Southern Comfort' where Remy comes and checks up on his favorite southern girl north of the Mississippi! But, then again, I make no promises.


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